Berliner Boersenzeitung - French hunter dodges jail over killing man mistaken for boar

EUR -
AED 4.311517
AFN 80.459001
ALL 97.861046
AMD 449.221187
ANG 2.100718
AOA 1076.404609
ARS 1470.290435
AUD 1.791892
AWG 2.112899
AZN 2.000281
BAM 1.955013
BBD 2.36186
BDT 142.592634
BGN 1.956686
BHD 0.442465
BIF 3485.327509
BMD 1.173833
BND 1.49851
BOB 8.082783
BRL 6.553268
BSD 1.170034
BTN 100.194118
BWP 15.628646
BYN 3.828176
BYR 23007.121999
BZD 2.349665
CAD 1.604917
CDF 3387.681116
CHF 0.932257
CLF 0.029042
CLP 1114.483409
CNY 8.428413
CNH 8.427867
COP 4721.155341
CRC 589.9727
CUC 1.173833
CUP 31.106568
CVE 110.221126
CZK 24.648254
DJF 208.307083
DKK 7.461233
DOP 70.142976
DZD 152.223833
EGP 58.176561
ERN 17.607491
ETB 162.306368
FJD 2.634901
FKP 0.864841
GBP 0.86252
GEL 3.181417
GGP 0.864841
GHS 12.209078
GIP 0.864841
GMD 83.926443
GNF 10151.089069
GTQ 8.990421
GYD 244.622628
HKD 9.214546
HNL 30.588215
HRK 7.530838
HTG 153.529541
HUF 399.309142
IDR 19041.328036
ILS 3.884618
IMP 0.864841
INR 100.434424
IQD 1532.376982
IRR 49447.704165
ISK 143.407551
JEP 0.864841
JMD 186.993974
JOD 0.83225
JPY 171.616637
KES 151.365347
KGS 102.651416
KHR 4697.150304
KMF 494.183253
KPW 1056.423672
KRW 1612.059556
KWD 0.35849
KYD 0.974804
KZT 606.623365
LAK 25203.752916
LBP 104810.480117
LKR 351.667023
LRD 234.536643
LSL 20.882514
LTL 3.466023
LVL 0.71004
LYD 6.326482
MAD 10.564498
MDL 19.827108
MGA 5177.894824
MKD 61.530165
MMK 2464.470539
MNT 4212.368283
MOP 9.458295
MRU 46.636324
MUR 53.080621
MVR 18.074825
MWK 2028.375324
MXN 21.8418
MYR 4.989986
MZN 75.078902
NAD 20.850323
NGN 1793.616166
NIO 43.04305
NOK 11.834586
NPR 160.312236
NZD 1.953052
OMR 0.451335
PAB 1.169734
PEN 4.152629
PGK 4.907109
PHP 66.216227
PKR 333.957537
PLN 4.242845
PYG 9066.391117
QAR 4.265302
RON 5.073068
RSD 117.164962
RUB 91.794533
RWF 1683.276171
SAR 4.402767
SBD 9.786155
SCR 17.225646
SDG 704.881407
SEK 11.152469
SGD 1.50142
SHP 0.922448
SLE 26.414414
SLL 24614.690259
SOS 668.528197
SRD 43.725855
STD 24295.968071
SVC 10.234839
SYP 15262.325911
SZL 20.849523
THB 38.253444
TJS 11.317395
TMT 4.120153
TND 3.421238
TOP 2.749233
TRY 46.999799
TTD 7.942771
TWD 34.302327
TZS 3084.286863
UAH 48.893221
UGX 4199.328454
USD 1.173833
UYU 47.321164
UZS 14870.01764
VES 133.35479
VND 30639.969489
VUV 140.042854
WST 3.231986
XAF 655.690416
XAG 0.032209
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.172342
XDR 0.815468
XOF 655.696
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.891327
ZAR 20.844629
ZMK 10565.899751
ZMW 28.454674
ZWL 377.973668
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

French hunter dodges jail over killing man mistaken for boar
French hunter dodges jail over killing man mistaken for boar / Photo: Valentine CHAPUIS - AFP/File

French hunter dodges jail over killing man mistaken for boar

A French hunter on Thursday avoided prison over the killing of a Franco-British man he had mistaken for a boar, disappointing relatives and friends who had wanted a stiffer penalty.

Text size:

Morgan Keane, 25, was shot dead in December 2020 in southwestern France by Julien Feral, 35, while he was chopping wood on his land.

The verdict came days after the French government outlined tighter rules for the sport designed to prevent such accidents, as controversy grows over what for many remains a proud tradition of France's countryside.

Feral was given a two-year suspended jail term and banned from hunting for life following his trial for involuntary homicide in the southwestern French town of Cahors.

The organiser of the hunt received an 18-month suspended sentence and a five-year hunting ban. Prosecutors had called for both men to serve at least some jail time.

"The justice system has done its work" within the limits of existing laws, said Benoit Coussy, lawyer for Keane's brother.

"Now lawmakers have to do their work and create a specific 'hunting offence' that could allow harsher punishments," he added.

"The message has been sent that if you kill someone, there are absolutely no consequences," said Peggy, a friend of Keane's, who did not give her last name.

"I know he isn't necessarily a danger to the public, but for me you have to send a message that killing someone isn't nothing," she added.

- 'Marked for life' -

"There isn't a day I don't think about it, it's marked me for life. I'm sorry," Feral told the court at the November opening of the trial, admitting that he had not "identified the target".

The investigation found the hunter did not know the area and had been stationed at a poorly chosen spot without proper safety instructions.

"We're relatively happy with removing the hunting licence for life" from the shooter, said Zoe Monchecourt, who heads an association launched by Keane's friends to push for updated hunting laws.

"On the other hand, we're not at all happy regarding the hunt organiser" and his ban of only five years, she added.

The case revived tensions between anti-hunting activists and defenders of a rural hobby and practice many farmers regard as necessary to keep down deer and boar populations in particular.

During the busy times of the hunting season, large parts of the French countryside reverberate with the sound of gunshots, leading many walkers to avoid forested areas for their own safety.

- No hunt-free Sundays -

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron's government said it would tighten rules against hunting under the influence of drugs or alcohol, strengthen training and safety requirements and set up digital systems to warn other countryside users away from active hunting zones.

Punishments will also be upgraded, including hunters losing their licences if they are involved in a serious accident.

But ministers stopped short of implementing a popular proposal to ban hunting altogether on Sundays, fearing backlash from the influential hunting lobby.

Statistics show hunting accidents have been on the decline in France over the past 20 years.

But cases of injury or even death from stray bullets remain highly emotive and are often widely covered by the media.

The verdict in the Keane case "backs us up in terms of what we're putting in place regarding safety," said Michel Bouscary, president of the hunters' federation in the southwestern Lot department where the killing happened.

Animal rights organisation ASPAS condemned a "very lenient verdict" that was "a scandalous insult" to all the victims of hunting.

There are 1.1 million active hunters in France, according to the national federation, and some five million people possess a hunting licence.

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)