Lucas, 13, ended his life last Saturday at his home in Golbey, near Épinal in the Vosges.
A suicide against a background of school harassment and homophobia, while the teenager assumed his homosexuality, reports RMC.
For several months, he suffered mockery and insults in his neighborhood, but especially in college.
According to our colleagues, Lucas and his mother would have reported “mockery” linked to the sexual orientation of the teenager from the first parent-teacher meeting, in September 2022.
“He was harassed regularly in relation to his outfit, his way of being, what he gave off, testifies to the radio station a relative of the family.
He was whole so he was not hiding.
That might bother some people.
The boy was telling his parents about the bullying he was going through.
“Coming home from school, he was complaining about what he was going through again and again.
His mother called for help several times.
She reacted well by calling the CPE, the principal…”, she assures.
However, the establishment claims to have reacted.
“The situation was taken very seriously by the establishment, by the head teacher”, explains Valérie Dautreme, academic director of the national education services in the Vosges, adding that he had had “an intervention” with the teaching staff and students.
“For us, the situation was settled: Lucas said afterwards that things had settled down, that he was no longer being teased.
The Louis-Armand college, which has 697 students, is involved in the pHARe system to fight against bullying.
Teachers are trained and students are sensitized.
Online kitty to pay for the funeral
An investigation is underway at the Epinal police station, according to France Bleu.
An autopsy took place on Wednesday at the Forensic Institute of Nancy.
Since Monday, a psychological unit has been set up for students and teachers.
“Such news is something terrible”, continues Valérie Dautreme, academic director of the national education services in the Vosges.
With France Bleu, she expressed her "personal emotion" and "that of the entire educational community of the department".
“There is really a lot of emotion among adults who haven't seen anything, who hasn't seen Lucas go bad lately?
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The family intends to file a complaint, according to Maître Catherine Faivre, the family's lawyer: "There is a whole series of chains of responsibility which can be sought and engaged if indeed the elements of an offense have been constituted", declares she to RMC.
Contacted, the lawyer did not respond to our requests.
This Thursday morning, the court of Épinal was also unreachable.
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An online kitty has been opened to financially support the family in the organization of Lucas' funeral.
More than 7500 euros were collected Thursday morning.
A civil ceremony, this Saturday in Épinal, will only be open to relatives.
First lady Brigitte Macron has made the fight against school bullying "her fight", she explained on Wednesday in our columns, facing the readers of Le Parisien.
“I am in favor of raising awareness among teaching staff and those who work in colleges and high schools to better identify cases of harassment,” she said.