“He couldn’t get away with it”regret Sergey Gaidai, governor of the Lugansk region, Tuesday morning on franceinfo. Journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, who worked for BFMTV, died on Monday May 30 in Ukraine, while reporting on the evacuations of civilians from Lyssytchansk and Severodonetsk, in the Donbass.
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A war crime investigation has been opened and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to allow “the return” of the body of the journalist “to his family as soon as possible”. Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff is the eighth journalist killed since the start of the conflict in Ukraine on 24 February. Franceinfo returns to this tragedy.
Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was a “brilliant” and “benevolent” journalist
32 years old, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was a journalist, image reporter and director. A graduate of the Institut de Journalisme Bordeaux Aquitaine, he began his career with the press agency Capa “where he leaves the memory of a brilliant, committed and passionate journalist but also of a kind and benevolent man”, testifies the agency on Twitter.
He worked for BFMTV “for more than six years” as a freelancer, “status he adored”, point out his colleagues in a tribute paid on the channel, Tuesday morning. It was “joyful, enthusiastic, benevolent, courageous and a wonderful journalist”also remembers the Society of Journalists (SDJ) of BFMTV in a statement posted on Twitter, shortly after the announcement of the tragedy.
— SDJ BFMTV (@sdjbfmtv) May 30, 2022
Since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, “this is the second time he has gone to Ukraine, at his request“, underlined the director general of the news channel BFMTV, Marc-Olivier Fogiel. The latter also shared on the air a short message from the journalist’s mother sent by SMS: “He was indeed very committed and I am proud of his choices”.
Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff had followed a commando course “to prepare, to be able to go back and have reflexes”, recalled the boss of the chain. The journalist had been relaying for several days on his Twitter account the publications of his journalist colleague Maxime Brandstaetter with whom he had returned to Ukraine in May.
He was reporting on the evacuation of civilians in the Donbass
“He died doing his job as a reporter, in the field, to show the reality of this conflict”recalls the SDJ of BFMVTV. Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, accompanied by his colleague Maxime Brandstaetter and their fixer Oksana Leuta, was in Kramatorsk, the capital of Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, shortly before the tragedy.
All three were following a humanitarian operation whose mission was to pick up 10 civilians stranded in Lysychansklocated 80 km away, in the Severodonetsk region. Russian forces seek to control this mining basin since the beginning of the conflict. “The situation there is as complicated as possible, the entire Lugansk region today is a territory that is continuously bombarded by all types of weapons available to the Russian army. These are aerial bombs, artillery and tanks . All”denounced the governor of this region, Serguiï Gaïdaï, on Telegram.
Over there, sheltering civilians is complicated. “In this war in Donbass, there are no rules regarding the evacuation of civilians, no corridor, no humanitarian corridor, none of that.reported on Monday, journalist Maryse Burgot, special correspondent for France Télévisions in Ukraine. People are fleeing on very dangerous roads, which are regularly bombed and targeted.”
The “secured” convoy received shrapnel
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the circumstances of the death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff become clearer. Around 2 p.m. on Monday, an armored bus, escorted by police cars, left Kramatorsk. “It was a secure convoy, organized by the authorities of the Lugansk region, with police escort and an armored vehicle”, detailed Maryse Burgot.
Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was at the front of the vehicle when a shell exploded in front of the convoy on the road leading to Lysychansk. “It was a large caliber 152 mm shell, the shrapnel of which pierced the armored windshield”details the governor of Lugansk. “The journalists were wearing helmets and bulletproof vests, but the shrapnel hit his neck,” he detailed before adding that even if “IJournalists have already accompanied police patrols, this is the first time that this has happened”.
Also in the vehicle were Maxime Brandstaetter, who was slightly injured in that strike, and their fixer Oksana Leuta, who was untouched. Both “are alive and safe”, assured the SDJ of BFMTV. According to the French ambassador to Ukraine, Etienne de Poncins, questioned on Tuesday on franceinfo, it is “difficult to know if those who fired knew that a journalist was on the bus” but he lamented “systematic incidents” that occur during evacuation convoys.
The Russian army remains, for the moment, silent
Officially, Russia did not react. But an officer of the people’s militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Andrey Marochko, called Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff a “foreign mercenary”suspecting him of “deliver weapons and ammunition to the positions of Ukrainian armed units. That’s why he was doomed to such a sad end.”he explained to the Russian news agency Tass (in English), Monday.
According Andrew Marochko, the LPR People’s Militia warned on May 27 that LPR forces would target civilian cars that Ukraine would use for military purposes. “This incident”speaking of the death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, is “designed to agitate the international community, portray us in a bad light and accuse us of killing journalists. But I want to emphasize that this is not the case”said the pro-Russian separatist.
In France, the reactions were immediate
As soon as the news became known, several media and journalists paid tribute to Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, alongside the editorial staff of BFMTV, which is “in mourning”, said Marc-Olivier Fogiel. “On behalf of France Télévisions, I share the immense pain of the editorial staff of BFMTV, for the loss of one of their own, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, who fell in Ukraine to inform us”, said Delphine Ernotte, president of France Télévisions, on Twitter.
Behalf @Francetele I share the immense pain of writing @BFMTV for the loss of one of their own, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff fell in Ukraine to inform us. All our thoughts are with his loved ones and @BFMTV
— Delphine Ernotte (@DelphineErnotte) May 30, 2022
Thierry Thuillier, deputy managing director of the information division of TF1, sent his “condolences to the family of our colleague Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff” and made “tribute to all the reporters who choose to cover Ukraine so that we are informed”, he added.
From left to right, politicians from all sides also paid tribute to the missing journalist. Within the executive, Emmanuel Macron declared on Twitter to share “the pain of the family, relatives and colleagues of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff”.he assured.
I share the pain of the family, relatives and colleagues of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, to whom I send my condolences. To those who carry out the difficult mission of informing in theaters of operations, I would like to reiterate France’s unconditional support.
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 30, 2022
As for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, she condemned a “double crime targeting a humanitarian convoy and a journalist”.
NGOs denounce a “human tragedy”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed five complaints with the International Criminal Court and with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, “so that the Russian army and its leaders can answer for their crime”assured Jeanne Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia office for RSF, to franceinfo. “Journalists are deliberately targeted by the Russian army and it is indeed appalling”she complains.
On the side of Amnesty International France, its president for the French section, Cécile Coudriou, points out, to franceinfo, “that no distinction is made between civilians and military targets”. The death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff is “a human drama”, but also a terrible illustration that since “the very first day” of this war in Ukraine, there is a “total lack of respect for human lives”, she denounced.
An investigation has been opened in France for “war crimes”
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) opened an investigation on Monday for “willful attack on the life of a person protected by international law”, “deliberate attack against people who are not directly involved in the conflict” and “deliberate attacks on personnel and vehicles employed in a humanitarian aid mission”learned franceinfo from the prosecution. It also relates to “the injuries suffered by his colleague Maxime Brandstaetter”, present during the attack, said the prosecution.
At least five other investigations for acts committed against French nationals in Ukraine have been opened since the start of the war by the crimes against humanity and war crimes unit of the Pnat. A first investigation had been opened after the death of the Franco-Irish journalist Pierre Zakrzewski on March 14 in Horenka, near kyiv.
In Ukraine, the police of the Lugansk oblast opened an investigation, under article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on violation of the laws and customs of war, informed the national police on its site (in Ukrainian).