French investigating magistrates have formally added racism as an aggravating circumstance to the charges arising from the high-profile killing of 16-year-old Thomas Perotto in Crépol, marking the first official recognition that the deadly attack may have been motivated by anti-White hatred.
Le Figaro reported that the magistrates in Valence informed the parties that all 14 people implicated in the case now face charges of murder or attempted murder aggravated by racism. The decision follows further questioning of the accused earlier this summer and comes as the judicial investigation reaches its conclusion ahead of a possible trial next year.
The addition of the aggravating factor could result in any sentence imposed on the defendants being significantly higher.
The racial character of the attack had been disputed since the investigation began, despite witnesses reporting that members of the knife-wielding group shouted about wanting to “kill White people.”
Thomas, a promising rugby player, was stabbed in the heart during violence outside a community dance in the rural Drôme village on the night of Nov. 18-19, 2023. He died while being transported to the hospital. Two other men were critically injured, while several additional victims suffered stab wounds.
The suspects were part of a group that had traveled from the La Monnaie neighborhood of Romans-sur-Isère to gatecrash the village celebration. Although much of the French media initially portrayed the violence as a spontaneous brawl between young people, witnesses described a coordinated attack involving a larger group of Black youths armed with knives.
“They took out the knives, they were there to kill,” one witness said at the time, as cited by Paris Match. Another local resident reported that members of the group shouted: “We are going to kill White people.”
The General Alliance Against Racism and for Respect for French and Christian Identity, or AGRIF, an advocacy group that led the fight to have the aggravating factor of racism recognized on the charge sheet, said its lawyer Jérôme Triomphe reviewed the extensive case file and submitted 30 pages of observations intended to establish what it described as the anti-White and anti-French racist motive behind the violence.
According to AGRIF, those submissions prompted the judges to reopen consideration of the issue and add the racism aggravator, which prosecutors had previously declined to invoke.
“The judges have reopened the investigation and added to the file the aggravating circumstance of racism, which the Prosecutor had refused to invoke and which had not, until then, been discussed,” the organization said, welcoming what it called an important decision for the continuation of the case.
“Anti-white racism has finally been recognized,” it added.
Le Parisien reported that 11 of those charged, including one who was a minor at the time, have been referred to the juvenile court in the Drôme region.
