Le Figaro Marseille
It all started with a video, which quickly went viral on social media.
The thirty-second sequence shows a young man placing a mouse in his mouth and chewing it until the animal dies.
Images which deeply shocked animal rights associations, to the point of filing a complaint and taking the matter to court.
This Wednesday, three young boys are summoned in this case before the Marseille criminal court as part of an appearance on prior admission of guilt.
The defendants are both the young man suspected of having chewed and killed the mouse, accused of “act of cruelty leading to the death of the animal”, but also another man suspected of having filmed the scene and a third accused of having broadcast the whole thing.
“They are good students in all respects, from good families and who are preparing for business schools
,” chokes up Me Xavier Bacquet, lawyer for the 30 million friends foundation, civil party in the case.
Read alsoMarseille: up to 8 months suspended prison sentence required against “negligent” animal owners
The young men involved are in fact students in preparatory class at the Lycée Thiers, a prestigious high school in the city center of Marseille.
The mouse was the property of one of their friends, and lived, domesticated, transported in a banana.
All three were obviously participating in an integration evening on a Marseille beach during which alcohol was apparently consumed in large quantities.
“The mouse struggled in the mouth”
“Alcohol is for me an aggravating circumstance and in no way an outlet,”
says Bacquet.
It is not anecdotal to chew a mouse.
In thirty years of defending animal rights, I have never seen this.”
“From my point of view, there is violence in this young man
,” accuses Me Isabelle Terrin, lawyer for the Protective Society of Mistreated and Stray Animals and the Rats-Quail association.
It's frightening.
It was a mouse that was not afraid of human beings.
She struggled in his mouth.
She even bit her on the corner of her lips.
She didn't want to die."
Defense lawyers are also outraged by the staging of the crime.
“What emerges from the file is that no one expected him to bite the mouse,”
says Mr. Terrin.
And the others, instead of being scandalized, found nothing better than putting all this on social networks.
“And the first reflex of the main defendant is to ask to be filmed,”
chokes Mr. Bacquet.
The whole problem lies with these young people who feel all-powerful, who watch videos and other Tik Tok challenges and see such absurdities on social networks.
They do not realize the cruelty of the facts in this case!”
The three defendants face up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.