Necva Taştan Sevinç
20 July 2026•Update: 20 July 2026
French prosecutors opened an investigation Monday into alleged racist harassment following the suicide of a 21-year-old man in the southeastern department of Isere, according to local media.
Joris Laurencin was found dead near his home in Chatonnay on July 13. A preliminary investigation was initially launched to determine the circumstances surrounding his death.
A second investigation was opened after his parents filed a complaint alleging psychological harassment and incitement to suicide, French broadcaster BFMTV reported, citing Olivier Rabot, the public prosecutor in Vienne.
Laurencin’s family alleges that he had been subjected to racist insults and humiliation by a group of young people from the area for several years.
Their lawyer, Elise Rey-Jacquot, said he had been forced to wear a T-shirt bearing a derogatory reference to his Algerian heritage and was repeatedly told that he did not belong in the village.
No complaint had been filed before his death, although Laurencin regularly spoke to his father about the alleged abuse, according to the lawyer.
The family has appealed for witnesses who attended a June 30 festival in the neighboring town of Saint-Jean-de-Bournay. Laurencin reportedly returned from the event deeply distressed after allegedly being insulted and publicly humiliated.
Rey-Jacquot said a witness had since come forward claiming that the young man was stripped and humiliated by a group during the festival. The allegation has not been independently confirmed.
The lawyer also asked prosecutors to assign the investigation to a police unit outside the area, arguing that personal connections in the small community could affect its impartiality.
Anti-racism group SOS Racisme supported the family’s appeal and warned against the normalization of racist rhetoric.
