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French anti-terror prosecutor investigates killing of Tunisian national
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 2, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 2, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
French anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating the racially motivated killing of a Tunisian national in southern France, linked to terrorism.
By Layli Foroudi
PARIS (Reuters) -The French anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into whether the killing of a Tunisian national in southern France was a racially motivated crime "related to a terrorist undertaking".
The Tunisian man, who has not been officially identified but is thought be around 35, was shot dead by a neighbour late on Saturday in the town of Puget-sur-Argens, the local prosecutor said. A 25-year-old Turkish national was also shot in the hand and taken to hospital after the incident.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor's office told Reuters on Monday that it was investigating charges of racially motivated assassination and attempted assassination related to a terrorist undertaking, as well as charges of involvement in a terrorist criminal group planning one or several violent crimes.
The prosecutor for the southern commune of Draguignan said on Sunday that the suspect was a 53-year-old man who practises shooting as a sport and who published what it said was hateful and racist content on his social media account before and after Saturday's killing.
The killing follows the fatal stabbing of Aboubakar Cisse, a 22-year-old man from Mali, in a mosque in the southern French town of La Grand-Combe last month amid what official figures suggest is rising racism in France.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau condemned Saturday's shooting, saying on x that "racism must be severely punished." Political opponents have said his stances on immigration and Islam have contributed to rising levels of hate crime.
French police recorded an 11% rise in racist, xenophobic or anti-religious crimes last year, according to official data published in March.
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, numbering more than 6 million and making up about 10% of the country's population.
Some French politicians, including President Emmanuel Macron, have criticised what they describe as Islamist separatism in a way that rights groups have said stigmatises Muslims and amounts to discrimination.
(Reporting by Layli Foroudi; Editing by Kate Mayberry, Bernadette Baum and Timothy Heritage)
The French anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into whether the killing of a Tunisian national was a racially motivated crime.
The victim is a Tunisian man, believed to be around 35 years old, who was shot dead by a neighbor in Puget-sur-Argens.
The prosecutor is investigating charges of racially motivated assassination and attempted assassination related to a terrorist undertaking.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau condemned the shooting, stating that racism must be severely punished, while political opponents have criticized his stances on immigration and Islam.
French police reported an 11% rise in racist, xenophobic, or anti-religious crimes last year, indicating a troubling trend in hate crimes.
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