Man charged after four bodies found in the River Seine, Paris

A passenger on a passing train saw one body floating in the river and the others were found later. Photo / Bertrand Guay, AFP

A French judge on Sunday charged a homeless man, whose identity and nationality remain uncertain, for the murders of four men whose bodies were found in the River Seine just outside Paris, prosecutors said.

The bodies, some partially naked, were found on August 13 in the river in the southeastern suburb of Choisy-le-Roi. A passenger on a passing train saw one body floating in the river and the others were found later.

The suspect was detained on Wednesday.

A prosecution statement said his identity was “uncertain” but that he was a “homeless man aged about 20” whose nationality was “not established” but was of “North African appearance”.

Prosecutors said the man had refused to answer questions about the killings but that investigators had established a link between the suspect and each of the four dead – an Algerian, 21, and a 26-year-old Tunisian – both homeless – a 46-year-old Frenchman and another Algerian aged 21.

All four had been seen on the river paths where the suspect had been known to hang around, prosecutors said.

Two of the bodies were partially naked when pulled out of the river. Two showed signs of having been strangled.

The suspect had been detained once on August 5 in possession of documents that turned out to belong to one of the victims.

-Agence France-Presse