Two adolescent boys in a Paris suburb have been given preliminary charges* of raping a 12-year-old girl and religion-motivated violence, French authorities said Wednesday. A Jewish leader said the girl is Jewish, reports ABC News.
The attack elicited widespread shock and concern, notably after a surge in antisemitic acts in France since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The girl reported a rape in the town of Courbevoie on Saturday, and three boys, aged 12 and 13, were detained, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
It said two of the boys were given multiple preliminary charges on Tuesday, including aggravated gang rape on a minor younger than 15, violence and public insult motivated by religion, death threats, attempted extortion and unlawfully recording or broadcasting sexual images.
The prosecutor’s office did not specify the girl's religion or release her identity, according to policies for the protection of victims, as is standard practice for hate crimes in France.
Later, lawyer and Jewish leader Elie Korchia said in an interview with French broadcaster BFM that the girl is Jewish and that Palestine was mentioned during the attack. French prime minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the girl was “raped because she's Jewish”, identifying it as an antisemitic attack.
Read more of this report from ABC News.
*Editor's note: Under a change to the French legal system introduced in 1993, a magistrate can decide if a suspect should be 'placed under investigation' (mis en examen), which is a status one step short of being charged (inculpé), if there is 'serious or concordant' evidence that they committed a crime. Some English-language media describe this status, peculiar to French criminal law, as that of being charged. In fact, it is only at the end of an investigation that a decision can be made to bring charges, in which case the accused is automatically sent for trial.