A French hunter there avoided prison for killing a Franco-English man who had been mistaken for a wild boar, disappointed relatives and friends who wanted a stiffer punishment.
Morgan Keane, 25, was shot dead in December 2020 in southwestern France by Julien Feral, 35, while he was cutting wood on his land.
The ruling comes days after the French government imposed stricter rules on the sport designed to prevent such accidents, as controversy grows over what remains a proud tradition in rural France.
Feral was given a suspended two-year prison sentence and banned from hunting for life after being tried for involuntary manslaughter in the southwestern French town of Cahors.
Meanwhile, the hunting committee received an 18-month sentence and a five-year hunting ban.
Prosecutors are asking that both men be jailed for at least some time.
“The justice system has done its work” within the limits of the law, said Benoit Coussy, lawyer for Keane’s brother.
“Now lawmakers need to do their job and create specific ‘hunting offences’ that allow for harsher penalties,” he said.
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“The message has been sent that if you kill someone, there are absolutely no consequences,” said Keane’s friend Peggy, who did not give her last name.
“I know they don’t have to be a danger to the public, but for me you have to send a message that killing people is okay,” he added.
– ‘Marked for life’ –
Keane was shot while cutting wood near his home in the village of Calvignac in December 2020.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it, it’s been a sign of my life. I’m sorry,” Feral told the court at the opening of the trial in November, admitting that he had not yet “identified the target”.
The investigation found that the hunters were not familiar with the area and had set up in the chosen spot without proper safety instructions.
“We are relatively happy with removing the hunting license for life” from the shooter, said Zoe Monchecourt, who leads the association launched by Keane’s friends to push for updated hunting laws.
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“On the other hand, we are not very happy about the hunting organizers” and the ban is only for five years, he added.
The case has fueled tensions between anti-hunting activists and defenders of the hobby and rural practices deemed necessary by farmers to maintain deer and pig populations.
During the busy season of the hunting season, large parts of the French countryside reverberate with the sound of guns, leading many walkers to avoid forest areas for their own safety.
– Not a week without hunting –
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 a digital system to warn other rural users away from active hunting zones.
Penalties will also be updated, including hunters losing their licenses in the event of a serious accident.
But ministers have stopped short of implementing a popular proposal to ban hunting entirely on Sundays, fearing backlash from the influential hunting lobby.
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Statistics show that hunting accidents have decreased in France over the past 20 years.
But the case of injury or even death from a stray bullet remains highly emotional and is often widely covered by the media.
The verdict in Keane’s case “encourages us in what we do in terms of security,” said Michel Bouscary, president of the hunters’ federation in the southwestern Lot department where the killings occurred.
There are 1.1 million active hunters in France, according to the national federation, and about five million of them have hunting licenses.