Reims (AFP)
A second suspect in the investigation into the violent assault, in Reims, of a photo-journalist from the newspaper Union on February 27 was indicted on Saturday for participation in a group to prepare acts of violence or damage, according to the prosecution.
Aged 21, born in Reims, the young man was placed under judicial supervision, with in particular a ban on going to the priority area of the Red Cross - theater of aggression -, obligation to respect a curfew in addition of the administrative curfew linked to Covid-19 and a ban on contacting other protagonists in the case.
"The penalty incurred for this single offense, one year, did not allow to consider, from a legal point of view, requisitions for placement in pre-trial detention which are only permitted if the penalty incurred is at least three years", a underlined in a press release the public prosecutor of Reims, Matthieu Bourrette.
This young man, who presented himself to the Reims police station on Friday where he was then taken into custody, was sentenced twice by the Reims criminal court for extortion and possession of narcotics, between 2017 and 2019.
On Wednesday, a 21-year-old young man of Algerian nationality, sentenced eight times in 2018 and 2019, was indicted for "aggravated attempted murder" and placed in pre-trial detention.
He is suspected of being the one who struck the journalist, especially when he was on the ground, while the latter "was practicing his profession, and for this reason", in the sensitive district of the Red Cross, explained Mr. Bourrette.
On February 27, coming to cover the apparent preparations for a fight, the photographer for the regional daily Union was attacked by a group of 13 people, while he was near his car flocked with the newspaper's logo.
A week after the assault, Christian Lantenois, 65, "is still hospitalized in critical but stable condition, with a life-threatening prognosis," the Union reported on its site on Saturday.
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