Off the wire
• Spanish stock market falls 0.47 pct, closes at 10,689 points  • Egypt signs deal with France to buy 24 Rafale fighter jets  • Central Bank of Cyprus orders lowering of bank rates  • Czech gov't approves national cyber security strategy  • Britisn FTSE 100 falls slightly on Monday  • Rwanda, United Arab Emirates seek strong ties  • Interview: Terrorism to last for at least 10 years: British academic  • 1st LD Writethru: No bailout agreement as Greece rejects Eurogroup draft statement  • Roundup: Lithuania commemorates independence day  • Mindfulness meditation may help older adults sleep better: study  
You are here: 　 Home

5 youths questioned over Jewish cemetery attack in French town

Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Five youths were questioned by French police on Monday following the desecration of Jewish graves in the French town of Sarre-Union.

Some 250 of the 400 graves in the cemetery were attacked. Headstones were overturned and a memorial to victims of Nazi deportations during the Second World War was also damaged. The cemetery lies in a relatively secluded area of the town, situated 85 km north-west of Strasbourg.

Philippe Vannier, the public prosecutor of nearby Saverne, said Monday that five youths from the local area aged between 15 and 17 years were being questioned by police after one of them had entered a police station and admitted taking part in the act.

Vannier added that the youth who gave himself up said the group had committed the act on Feb. 12.

None of the youths were said to be known to the police and the motivation for the desecration was not clear. Vannier said there seemed to be no immediate indications of any ideological motivation.

Since the end of the Second World War, the cemetery has witnessed six acts of desecration.

This latest attack was widely condemned by senior political figures in France and abroad. Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, which is based in Strasbourg, said: "I join the French government and President [Francois] Hollande in condemning this barbaric act of anti-Semitism," he said.

The desecration of a burial site is an offense under French law.

Speaking to Xinhua, Prof. Christian Mestre, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Political Sciences and Management at the University of Strasbourg, said such an act carries a maximum of three years imprisonment and a maximum fine of 45,000 euros (51,000 U.S. dollars). Endit