The final toll reported 10 victims, including six adults and four children. (Photo by OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP)
The fire which caused the death of 10 people in Vaulx-en-Velin in the Metropolis of Lyon might have been caused voluntarily.
The investigation to determine the causes of the dramatic fire, which caused the death of 10 people Friday, December 16 in Vaulx-en-Velin in the Metropolis of Lyon, continues.
The Lyon public prosecutor’s office decided this Monday, December 19 to open a judicial investigation of the heads of “willful damage by fire resulting in death, willful damage by fire resulting in total incapacity for work of more than 8 days and willful damage by fire resulting in total incapacity for work of less than 8 days“.
Voluntary degradation, but no homicide
Concretely, this means that “the degradation is voluntary, but not the death it has caused“, specify to Lyon Capital, Maître Hervé Banbanaste, lawyer at the bar of Lyon. A cigarette butt thrown on the sofas on the ground floor of the building might be a possible scenario.
At this stage of the investigation, voluntary homicide is therefore excluded, even if master Hervé Banbanaste specifies that “it can evolve“. The maximum penalty for the head of “voluntary damage by fire resulting in death” is life imprisonment.
For the record, the Lyon prosecutor’s office revealed on Saturday that no trace of flammable product was found at the scene of the tragedy. “The investigations will therefore continue from now on under the authority of two investigating magistrates from Lyon co-seized at the request of the public prosecutor’s office.“, specifies the parquet floor of Lyon.
Read also: Update on the investigation following the fatal fire in Vaulx-en-Velin
