The prosecution denies the deaths of two people "related to the heat" as Minister Pannier Runacher claimed.

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The minister spoke a little too quickly. The interim prosecutor of Besançon denied on Wednesday, July 2, any link between two suspicious deaths and the heatwave , contrary to what had been initially announced by the Minister for Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher .

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Two deaths in Besançon, the prefecture of Doubs, suggested a possible link to the heatwave: that of a worker who died on his way home after a day on a building site on Monday evening, and that of a homeless man found unconscious on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, the Green mayor of Besançon, Anne Vignot, announced the death of a homeless man in his fifties, "most certainly linked to the current heatwave." The following morning, Agnès Pannier-Runacher announced that two people had died in France "as a result of heat-related illnesses," before her entourage clarified that there was "no official confirmation" at this stage.

"Given the information in my possession, it is impossible for me to confirm that the two deaths are linked to the heatwave," said acting public prosecutor Margaret Parietti on Wednesday.

Regarding the 35-year-old worker, "what I can confirm is that his death is absolutely not linked to the heat," she added. The autopsy results "do not reveal dehydration." The magistrate did not yet have any additional information regarding the homeless man.

Even before the interim prosecutor's correction, the minister's entourage had specified that the latter had only taken up information "in the public domain" , in reference to press reports including the local daily "l'Est Républicain" .

"There was no official confirmation from the authorities and the minister's statement did not constitute confirmation from the authorities because we are not the competent authority in this matter," added the minister's office, pleading "clumsiness."

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