• A couple from Lille found themselves on Thursday in front of the Lille criminal court, suspected of acts of cruelty on an animal.

  • However, the case had been dismissed by the public prosecutor.

  • To restart the legal proceedings, the lawyer then chooses a direct citation implicating the couple who own the dog, with supporting evidence.

The case almost fell through the cracks of the judicial net.

Nevertheless, a couple from Lille found themselves, Thursday, in front of the Lille criminal court, suspected of acts of cruelty on an animal, despite the classification without follow-up from the public prosecutor.

It is the stubbornness of a lawyer from Marseille that allowed this hearing to take place.

The story begins in May 2019. In a residence in Lille, a neighbor sees a lady digging a hole.

“Obviously to bury an animal,” says Isabelle Gharbi-Terrin, lawyer specializing in animal causes.

However, the day before, she had seen children riding their bicycles on purpose on a small dog, under the eyes of adults who said nothing.

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Numerous fractures all over the body

The neighbor warns the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) of Lille Métropole.

Its director goes there and decides to unearth the animal, a Yorkshire-style bitch, buried in a plastic bag.

A veterinarian's report will reveal bruises and numerous fractures all over the body, especially in the cranium.

“This poor little dog, who was seven or eight months old, suffered martyrdom,” says the lawyer.

Complaint is therefore filed by the SPA for cruelty to a pet.

However, a few months later, in November 2020, the prosecutor closed the case without further action.

A decision which deeply irritates Me Gharbi-Terrin “I do not accept that the law is not applied.

However, martyring and killing an animal is punishable by two years in prison, ”she protested.

To restart the legal proceedings, the lawyer then chooses a direct citation implicating the couple who own the dog, with supporting evidence.

"I hope that both will be heavily condemned, insists Me Gharbi-Terrin.

There are enough of acts of cruelty on innocent animals of everything, which are the outlets of frustrations, the punching-balls of indiscriminate and so unjust violence.

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  • Justice

  • Court

  • Dog

  • Animal cruelty

  • Lille