French journalist killed in Ukraine: an investigation opened for war crimes
Steph Deschamps / May 31, 2022
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The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) announced on Monday the opening of a war crimes investigation after the death of Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, a BFMTV journalist killed in eastern Ukraine while accompanying civilians on a humanitarian bus near Severodonetsk.
Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, was fatally hit by shrapnel while monitoring a humanitarian operation, BFMTV said, shortly after Emmanuel Macron announced the journalist's death on Twitter.
The investigation of flagrance entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes (OCLCH) also focuses on the injuries suffered by his colleague Maxime Brandstaetter, who was present with him during the report.
The investigation is open on charges of deliberate attack on the life of a person protected by the international law of armed conflict, deliberate attacks against persons not directly involved in the conflict and deliberate attacks against personnel and vehicles employed in a humanitarian aid mission, the anti-terrorist prosecutor's office said.
At least five other investigations for acts committed against French nationals in Ukraine have been opened by the Pnat since the beginning of the war.