France - Family of teacher who hanged himself speaks out

This is the follow-up to a story reported here on NP a couple of weeks ago.

For the first time the father of Jean-Luc Bubert has broken his silence and spoken to the French media.

Bubert was the teacher who hanged himself last month shortly following his release from police custody, during which he had been questioned over allegations that he had hit one of his pupils.

On Friday his father, Jean Bubert, said the reasons that had led to his son's suicide needed to be fully investigated and he called on the local public prosecutor to allow the family's lawyer access to police files.

"My son has left us," he said at a press conference. "But the truth and his honor need to be re-established."

The case centers on the death of Jean-Luc Bubert, a science teacher at the César-Savart secondary school in Saint-Michel near the northern French town of Laon.

On the morning of September 18 he was taken in for questioning by police after the parents of one his pupils made an official complaint against him.

Their 15-year-old son alleged that Bubert had asked him to remain in the classroom at the end of the lesson, and reprimanded him for having turned up late. At some point during the discussion the boy claimed that his teacher had hit him.

During police questioning Bubert denied the accusation and was released, with the local public prosecutor, Olivier Hussenet, later saying that as far as the police had been concerned there were insufficient grounds to press charges.

The alleged incident had occurred in a classroom and there had been no witnesses present.

After his release, the 38-year-old returned home and hanged himself. His body was discovered the following morning.

In an interview with the regional newspaper following the teacher's suicide, Hussenet said that although the detention and questioning by the police might have prompted Bubert to take his life, there had also been number of personal factors involved which could have played a role.

The teacher had been going through a divorce and his house had been put up for sale.

But for Jean Bubert, the preliminary investigations surrounding the reasons for his son's suicide are insufficient, and he wants access to police records and for a full enquiry into the circumstances leading up to his son's death to be launched.

He also remains convinced of his son's innocence of the accusations made against him and maintains that another pupil has since confirmed that the boy who made the claims showed no physical signs of having been hit immediately after the alleged confrontation.

Furthermore, he wants the good name of his son to be restored.

"I'm asking for the truth on behalf his eight-year-old son, who now has to continue his life without his father," he said.

"A father who is no longer alive, and whose reputation has been tarnished - without doubt," he added.