Four charged over French schoolboy’s killing

ÉVRY (AFP) : Two brothers and two other young people have been charged with murder over the killing of a 15-year-old boy that has heightened concern about violence in French schools.

Two of the accused — a 20-year-old and a minor — were jailed, while the other two minors were held in pre-trial remand for beating 15-year-old Shemseddine as he left school, Evry prosecutor Gregoire Dulin said in a press release early Monday after the overnight hearing.

“The entire nation is in mourning,” education minister Nicole Belloubet posted on social media platform X after the schoolboy died of his injuries on Friday, a day after being attacked in Viry-Chatillon, a town around 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Paris.

He was beaten by a group, including two brothers, in a dispute linked to their younger sister on “subjects relating to sexuality”, prosecutor Dulin said in an earlier statement.

“Fearing for her reputation and that of their family, they had ordered several boys to no longer have contact with her. They (the brothers) then learned that the victim boasted of being able to speak freely with their sister,” he said.

Three people wearing balaclavas attacked Shemseddine as he left school in Viry-Chatillon, police said.

He died of his wounds on Friday. Police then detained five suspects, including three 17-year-olds, a 15-year-old and a 20-year-old.

The 15-year-old is the only suspect the prosecutor did not want held in custody.

It was the second assault last week, after a 13-year-old girl was left temporarily comatose after being attacked outside her school in the southern city of Montpellier on Tuesday.

Both incidents come at a time of heightened tensions around French schools, after threats of attacks were made against dozens of educational establishments.

“We have a form of uninhibited violence among our teenagers and sometimes among increasingly younger ones,” President Emmanuel Macron said Friday before the teenager died.

“Schools need to be shielded from this,” he said, adding they should “remain a sanctuary for our children, for their families, for our teachers”.