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12 Jan, 5 tweets, 2 min read
The public prosecutor for the Annecy area says she is surprised by the global media reaction to the announcement that a man has been arrested for questioning for the 9 years old al-Hilli murders. Surprised? Really? 1/2

ledauphine.com/faits-divers-j…
Prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis says it's an arrest like many others. "No cause to get excited. We're going to say nothing about the person being questioned. We've already had one suicide after an arrest in this case...I will give no clue to the person's identity or address." 2/2
The arrested man has been identified by his lawyer as a motorcyclist who was questioned in 2015, three years after the killings, and cleared of suspicion at the time. Now gendarmerie detectives want to clear up discrepancies in his story.
A motorcyclist was seen in the mountains near the crime scene in Sept 2012. The gendarmeries issued a sketch of the man wearing in a bike helmet. A man was questioned in March 2015 because of his likeness to the sketch but released. Now it appears he's being questioned again.
The suspect is a businessman who was hang-gliding near the murder scene, according to France Info. His lawyer tells them it's a case of mistaken identity and his client is "living through a nightmare" His home was searched this am. He has been under questioning now for 12 hours.

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More from @john_lichfield

John Lichfield Profile picture
14 Jan
Weekly French Covid Thread
The Omicron pandemic is raging but rising less rapidly; Delta is declining slowly (see Covidtracker graphic). Overall, there are reasons to hope that a plateau will be reached next week. In France as elsewhere, Omicron is causing less acute illness 1/10 Image
Omicron is now 90% of new cases in France, up from 80% last week. Together the variants are producing an average of 293,867 cases a day – a 47% increase on last week, after 64% the week before. But (good news alert) acute care and deaths are “only” 5% and 3% up.
2/10 Image
There is some push-back against Fr govt's handling of the pandemic. Teachers went on strike against school mask/testing rules and won concessions. The Senate has delayed the move from “health pass” to vaccine pass. Outdoor masks in Paris have been struck down by a tribunal. 3/10
Read 10 tweets
John Lichfield Profile picture
7 Jan
First weekly French Covid Thread of 2022

Omicron is now 80% of new cases in France and producing (in alliance with the declining Delta wave) an average of 200,000 cases a day – a 64% increase in a week. As the graphic shows, this is a “wave on top of a wave”. 1/15
So far, the explosion of mostly Omicron cases – over 300,000 a day on Tues and Wed, 260,000+ yesterday – is NOT causing an explosion of very acute cases or deaths. Hospital admissions are 35.3% up but acute care is “only” 6.3% up and deaths are “only” 14.5% up. 2/15
The government says the "ordinary" hospital cases are partly Omicron/partly Delta. But the acute cases and deaths are thought to be entirely Delta. It will be another week or so before we know if the avalanche of Omicron cases is producing a sharp spike in serious illness. 3/15
Read 15 tweets
John Lichfield Profile picture
31 Dec 21
Last French Covid Thread of 2021

I spoke last week of a very big Omicron wave about to crash onto France. That wave is upon us. There have been over 200,000 new cases in each of the last two days, bringing the 7-day average to 121,566, up more than 125% in a week. 1/15
The government now reckons that almost two in three - 62.3% - of those new cases are the Omicron variant, compared to 1 in 3 a week ago. The Delta strain (in terms of new cases) will be wiped out in Fr in a few days’ time. Good news or bad news? It’s still uncertain. 2/15
President Macron is gambling (cautiously) that Omicron will prove to be aggressive (in spread) but relatively benign (in acute sickness/deaths). Drastic measures to reduce social mixing (such as curfews) were rejected on Monday in favour of a raft of smaller ones. 3/15
Read 15 tweets
John Lichfield Profile picture
24 Dec 21
Weekly French Covid Thread (one day early)

A worrying week and a confusing one. Lots of mixed signals from the French government. “New cases are the worst since the pandemic began…BUT unlike neighbouring countries, we plan no drastic new measures”. Hmm. 1/15
Imagine a very big wave crashing onto a beach and swallowing another big wave cresting ahead of it. That is roughly where we are in France this Christmas. There was an all-time record of 91,608 new cases yesterday – 32% of which MAY be the new Omicron variant. 2/15
Because France has chosen not to invest in rapid ways of variant-spotting, educated guess-work is needed to decide the proportion of O. cases. This week almost 1 in 3 of cases - 32% - lacked the L452R mutation present in Delta. They can therefore be presumed to be Omicron. 3/15
Read 15 tweets
John Lichfield Profile picture
18 Dec 21
Weekly French Covid Thread
A confusing week. The 5th (Delta) wave has levelled off but the 6th (Omicron) wave is rising fast behind it. PM Jean Castex announced that the “health pass” will become a “vaccine pass” from Jan. A negative C19 test will no longer qualify. 1/12
New cases in France only rose by 6% this week to 51,102 a day – after rises of 24% and 52% in previous weeks. How many are the new Omicron variant, booming in UK, DK and Belgium? Officially, there are only 347 cases in Fr. It may really be 10x that figure, virologists fear 2/12
As a result, France’s decision to ban tourist/business travel from UK from midnight last night has angered some people. They say it’s political and pointless. They say the small French Omicron level is a statistical illusion based on low/slow Fr identification of variants. 3/12
Read 13 tweets
John Lichfield Profile picture
11 Dec 21
Weekly French Covid Thread

A somewhat encouraging week. The 5th (Delta) wave of the pandemic is still rising but less rapidly. The peak may be reached next week. However…the Omicron variant has yet to hit France in a big way. It’s coming. It’s already surging in the UK. 1/12
New cases rose this week to 48,248 a day, up 24%, after 52% last week. The incidence rate (tdi) - 470 cases per 100,000/7 days – rose by 31.6%, compared to a weekly rate of 60% ten days ago. See graph by @nicolasberrod on the rise/fall of the tdi in recent months/weeks. 2/12
The signs that the Delta wave is running out of steam explain why the govt rejected tough new measures – early school closures, enforced home working – last Monday. Discos/clubs will be closed for 4 weeks from today. Three days a week home working is “recommended”. 3/12
Read 12 tweets

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