The teenager Yuriy, whose beating in mid-January in Paris had aroused a national stir, spoke publicly Tuesday evening for the first time by assuring that he was
"not part of a gang".
To read also: Aggression of Yuriy: the teenager was heard for the first time by the police officers
The schoolboy was taken to hospital in serious condition after being severely beaten on the evening of January 15, while he was with friends on the slab of Beaugrenelle, the roof of a shopping center in the 15th arrondissement of the capital.
His assault, documented on video, has been largely attributed to a settling of accounts between rival gangs.
"I would say that I'm not part of a gang, it's just a group of friends who are on this slab, we have fun, we play football sometimes, no it's not a story of bands, ”
Yuriy said during an interview with host Cyril Hanouna broadcast Tuesday night on C8.
"I was living my life, it often happened to me to be on this slab, I did not feel in danger"
, he added by affirming not to know his attackers and by wishing
"to return to the life of before ".
"I felt the fear of death, because what happened to me was not nothing and I saw the reactions around me (...) the open skull, the blood everywhere"
, described the teenager who still wears a scar on his forehead, reminiscent of the injuries he suffered in January.
The broadcast on social networks on January 22 of twenty seconds of images of his attack had aroused many reactions, both from President Emmanuel Macron and from footballer Antoine Griezmann.
Eleven young people were indicted in this case, in particular for "attempted murder" or "participation in a criminal association".
Most of them are minors and live in Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine), south of Paris.
This affair shone the spotlight on the phenomenon of violent brawls and rivalries between gangs of young people, which have been increasing since then, especially in the Paris region.
On Monday, a 14-year-old was seriously injured in Essonne, where two college students had already been fatally stabbed in February.
