A French investigating judge has reclassified the 2023 murder of 16-year-old Thomas Perotto as an attack carrying an aggravating circumstance of racism against the “white race” and the “French nation”.
The unprecedented decision marks a significant development in a case that has become one of France’s most politically charged criminal investigations.
Thomas was fatally stabbed during a village winter ball in Crépol, in the Drôme department, on November 19, 2023. He had done nothing to provoke the violence, but young men from the migrant populated suburbs of Romans-sur-Isère came armed with knives to start a fight.
The 16-year-old was fatally stabbed and died while being taken to hospital.
The case was initially widely described in much of the French media as a rixe, a brawl or clash between groups, a framing that critics argued obscured the wider context of the attack, including the backgrounds of the suspects and reports of racist insults directed at the victims.
Fourteen people were eventually placed under investigation for murder and attempted murder in an organised group.
In 2025, a parliamentary question cited an investigation reporting that an early police report contained witness accounts of racist insults during the attack.
The investigating judge has now formally retained the aggravating circumstance that the victims were targeted because of their “belonging to the white race and the French nation”.
That does not yet establish criminal guilt, which will ultimately be decided by a court, but it represents a significant shift from the initial framing.
The prosecution had previously declined to include the racist aggravating circumstance in its final submissions against 11 defendants.
It requested the referral to the Assize Court of minors of 11 accused for “voluntary killing” and “attempted voluntary homicide”, dismissing in passing the classification of organised gang, without reference to the aggravating circumstance of racism.
Judges usually follow the qualification of the prosecution, making the move by this judge exceptional.
Denis Dreyfus, the lawyer of Thomas’ family said it was “very satisfying”.
“The victims’ families took it very badly when the prosecutor dropped the organised-gang charge and the aggravating circumstance of racism, even though those issues had been a recurring theme throughout the proceedings,” he told BFMTV.
The parties can now submit observations before the judge issues the final order referring the defendants to court.
The Crépol case became a major political flashpoint after the attack, with the identities and backgrounds of some of the suspects becoming the subject of intense political debate.
Many argued that the case illustrated the growing risks of violence committed by young people from immigrant backgrounds.
French law already recognises racist motives as aggravating circumstances, but cases involving alleged anti-white racism have remained politically and legally contentious.
After patriotic activists organised rallies in support of Thomas Perotto, antifascist groups mobilised against them, arguing that the murder was being used to promote an anti-immigration agenda. In November 2024, for example, an antifascist demonstration was held in Romans-sur-Isère at the same time as a gathering marking the anniversary of Thomas’s death. The two groups were kept apart by a major police presence
The development comes amid a series of high-profile cases involving French children and teenagers who have been killed or seriously attacked by people with a migrant background.
LastJune, 17-year-old Louis died after being brutally beaten in a suspected ambush in Narbonne. Five young people, including three minors, were arrested and placed in pre-trial detention. Investigators said the attack had been filmed and the suspects were identified partly through the footage. The prosecutor has said there was no evidence of a racial motive in that case.
Other high-profile cases in the same vein were the murder of Lola Daviet (12), who was raped and killed by the Algerian woman Dahbia Benkired and the murder of Philippine Le Noir de Carlan (19), who was raped and murderd by an illegal immigrant from Morocco.
These cases have fuelled public anger over violence against French children and teenagers, particularly amid wider concerns about juvenile crime, repeat offenders and the ability of the French justice system to prevent attacks by people already known to authorities.
