France: after the violent forest fires, twenty-six suspects arrested

A fire truck passes next to a major fire near Le Luc, in Provence, on August 18, 2021 (illustrative image).

PA

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1 min

In France, the main fires are brought under control by firefighters.

This does not prevent the police from continuing to track down the arsonists at the origin of these fires.

Since the beginning of the summer, twenty-six suspects have been arrested.

Several of them were also sentenced,

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Behind the exceptional fires that France is experiencing, there are men, in the overwhelming majority of cases.

In total, 90% of fire outbreaks are of human origin.

Sometimes they are accidents (a cigarette butt thrown into the forest), sometimes they are voluntary.

Five convicts

In the report given by the Ministry of the Interior, six people suspected of being arsonists are imprisoned pending trial.

Five others have been sentenced since early July.

All for intentionally setting the fire.

For example, this Tuesday August 16, a 40-year-old man was tried in Le Mans, in the center of the country.

He had ignited dry vegetation at the edge of a road in a town in Sarthe.

A minor fire, the firefighters extinguished it very quickly. 

“See” what it does

His justification is surprising: the culprit says he had the idea while watching television because he wanted to "see" what it was doing on the ground.

His sentence is six months, which he can carry out with an electronic bracelet.

On the same day, in eastern France, a 22-year-old young man was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence.

He was found drunk and unconscious at the scene of the fire.

Without being able to explain his gesture.

At the hearing, he apologized to the firefighters.

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