"This tragedy will not go unpunished," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin promised Tuesday night on Twitter, evoking "an aggression of unspeakable cowardice".

The PCF deputy of the constituency, Fabien Roussel, denounced "an act of barbarism" and called on justice to show "extreme severity".

The victim, Philippe Mathot, 72, "was a figure, everyone knew him, he was a super nice man, rather calm," says Steve Sider, thirty-year-old who grew up in Vieux-Condé, a city of 10,000 inhabitants near Valenciennes, disadvantaged but "quiet".

Killing "for so little, it's super shocking," he adds.

The man, assaulted on the night of July 5 to 6, ran a flower shop with his wife, which he had sold in 2015. "He was neither barracks nor brawler - he would have given you his shirt," says his former employee, Véronique.

"People came to the store every day to check on him" when he was hospitalized after the attack, she said.

"Regrets"

Three young men aged 14, 17 and 18, with no criminal record, were arrested the day after the incident.

All three live in a commune near Vieux-Condé, each with his parents, said the prosecutor of Valenciennes, Christelle Dumont, at a press conference Wednesday.

PCF deputy Fabien Roussel, June 7, 2023 in Paris © Ludovic MARIN / AFP/Archives

The two minors are in school, while the major "interrupted his studies in first class," she added. They "seem to have shown regret".

According to them, they were spending the evening together near the victim's home when the latter stopped them from his window and "ordered them to leave the premises, blaming them for noise pollution," reported the prosecutor.

The septuagenarian left his home and ensued an "altercation" around 23:00 p.m., according to the reported words of the defendants, quickly identified thanks to witnesses.

On the other hand, there is "no direct witness" of the attack, said the prosecutor, indicating that the victim was found lying in front of his home by a motorist who called for help around 00:20.

His death was announced Tuesday morning by the mayor of the commune, David Bustin, via a Facebook message, announcing the opening of a book of condolences for residents "in a state of shock".

'Abominable lynching'

The young man of 17 years, main suspect, would have given him "multiple punches and kicks", especially when he "was on the ground after falling under the impact of a first blow to the face", said the prosecutor of Valenciennes.

Indicted for "intentional homicide", he was placed in pre-trial detention. The 18-year-old and 14-year-old suspects were indicted for "failure to prevent the commission of a crime" and "failure to assist a person in danger", facts punishable by five years in prison.

The president of the RN group in the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, on June 20, 2023 in Paris © Ludovic MARIN / AFP / Archives

"They were the subject, for the first of a placement under judicial control, and for the second of a provisional judicial educational measure," said the prosecutor's office.

"It corresponds to the savagery that I have denounced for years already," said Wednesday the president of the RN group in the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, during a trip to Beauvais.

On franceinfo, government spokesman Olivier Véran said that the death of this "man killed with fists and feet" attests to "this ultra-violence (...) against which we must fight with determination."

Government spokesman Olivier Véran on July 5, 2023 in Paris © JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP/Archives

The first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, deplored on Twitter an "abominable lynching". "No one deserves death at 17 or 72," he added, referring to the death of young Nahel, killed by a police officer in Nanterre.

© 2023 AFP