Three years after the attack and the strong emotion it aroused, the time for the trial has come. Eight young men suspected of being involved in the violent beating of young Yuriy in Paris in 2021 are on trial starting this Monday before the capital’s juvenile court. A first trial on the same case was held in March, with the sentencing of four younger attackers to sentences of up to two and a half years in prison.
Yuriy, a French schoolboy born in Ukraine who was preparing to celebrate his 15th birthday, was beaten on January 15, 2021 on the Beaugrenelle slab, the converted roof of a shopping center in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. These images, lasting around twenty seconds, show around ten young people attacking Yuriy, then on the ground, with kicks, crutches and hammers, before abandoning him on the slab.
“An act of revenge” in a context of brawls between rival gangs
The attack, which lasted several minutes, was stopped by the screams of a man at his window. Yuriy was taken to hospital in serious condition, with his life threatening. Before the Paris Juvenile Assize Court, eight defendants who were at least 16 years old at the time of the facts – six minors and two adults aged 18 at the time – must now explain themselves, until December 22 , behind closed doors.
According to investigations, this outbreak of violence would be “an act of revenge” in response to the attack on another young person during a brawl five days earlier, near the slab of the Beaugrenelle shopping center. The latter’s half-brother and cousin are among the teenagers implicated in the beating of Yuriy.
The defendants who ended up admitting to having inflicted blows always denied having wanted to kill Yuriy. After ten days spent in intensive care, the teenager survived his injuries. His state of health will have to be monitored “until he is 25”, confided to the Parisian Yuriy’s mother.