Why Did French TV Pinpoint Hideout of Kosher Market Terror Victims?
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Prosecutors in Paris are examining whether a local television station broke the law when it broadcast live reports about the location of hostages who tried to flee the killer of four Jews in January at a kosher supermarket near the French capital.
The investigation was launched this week following complaints by survivors of the Jan. 9 Hyper Cacher supermarket killings against BFMTV.
The survivors complained to police that the network, known for its breaking news coverage, had “placed the lives of others in danger,” the Le Parisien newspaper reported Wednesday.
The complaint concerns a report by a BFMTV journalist offering updates on the situation at the supermarket while Amedy Coulibaly, a Muslim fanatic, was holed up in the shop with hostages.
“There is one person, a woman, who remained hidden from the beginning, when this man entered the shop,” the journalist said. “She hid in the refrigerated area in the back of the building.”
The journalist also spoke with Coulibaly, who said he had come to the shop to kill Jews.
Hiding in the refrigerated area during the attack were seven people, including a baby. Several ex-hostages who survived the ordeal filed a complaint against BFMTV on March 27 through their lawyer, Patrick Klugman, the report said.
Reached by Le Parisien, BFMTV officials declined to comment on the reported opening of the preliminary investigation into their station’s conduct.
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