Lyon: investigation for "racist crime" after the discovery of the body of a young North African man

On Tuesday morning, walkers roaming the banks of the Prin pond, a usually peaceful area about ten kilometers south of Lyon, raised the alarm. Under a thin layer of ice, they spotted a body. It was that of a 20-year-old man.

On the same day as the discovery, a 21-year-old suspect was taken into custody. According to information from the daily newspaper Le Progrès, this individual would have surrendered himself at a police station.

But it is the nature of the prosecution that is striking. On Thursday, the public prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP the opening of a judicial investigation for "murder committed because of race, ethnicity, nation or religion". A qualification that directly points to a racist hate crime.

The suspect is to be presented to an investigating judge during the day. The public prosecutor’s office has already announced its intention to request his placement in pre-trial detention, as emotion begins to spread in the Lyon region in the face of this tragedy.