A 36-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday October 30, 2024. He would be the shooter presumed guilty of having murdered two men on August 25 in Besançon (Doubs), with a submachine gun. Justice is considering a settlement of scores against a backdrop of drug trafficking and is looking for a potential sponsor.
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“An authentic assassination“. Tuesday November 12, 2024, the public prosecutor of Besançon (Doubs), Etienne Manteaux, returned in detail to the circumstances of the double murder that occurred in the Besançon city, on August 25, 2024, rue de l'Épitaphe.
► ALSO READ: Double assassination in Besançon: who are the two men targeted by a “determined” shooter, still on the run
That day, around 3 p.m., two men aged 24 and 30 were found dead nearby.of a deal place” specifies Etienne Manteaux. One on the public highway, the other in a park near rue de l'Épitaphe, both shot dead by several bullets fired from a submachine gun. A third man, targeted by the shots, there had escaped after three months of investigation, a man, who could be the shooter, was arrested, placed in pre-trial detention and indicted on November 1, 2024.
The alleged shooter, apprehended after the collection of consistent evidence by the police and the hearing of a witness under X, is a resident of the neighboring department of Haute-Saône. Aged 36, he was very unfavorably known to the courts with 20 convictions. He was sentenced in 2013 to 10 years' imprisonment for armed robbery, and more recently to two years' imprisonment for violent robbery and criminal association linked to drug trafficking, in Besançon.
He left France a few days after August 25, 2024.to take refuge abroad, more precisely in Morocco” explained the prosecutor. Returning from the Maghreb on October 29, he was arrested the next day by the police and placed in police custody, after his identification using video surveillance cameras.
To equip yourself with a precise, sophisticated, repeating weapon of war, with 9 well-aimed bullets out of 12 fired, we are on the job of a professional criminal.
Etienne Manteaux,public prosecutor of Besançon
During his custody, he first showed himself “very peaceful“, saying “that he could easily demonstrate that he was not at the scene of the crime at the time of the events“. The alleged shooter had in fact left his phone stuck at his home in Haute-Saône. An argument quickly refuted by the video surveillance images, where “its formal presence“near the crime scene has been demonstrated”before and after the facts“. He was released from prison, after his last conviction, in February 2024.
Referred to the Besançon public prosecutor's office, the accused was placed in pre-trial detention and indicted for double murder by an organized gang as a repeat offender, attempted murder by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy in connection with drug trafficking, “since it clearly appears that the facts are linked to territorial disputes linked to a deal place which attracted several groups of drug traffickers” continues Etienne Manteaux. The alleged shooter denies any participation in these assassinations. He faces life imprisonment.
Etienne Manteaux, public prosecutor of Besançon.
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© LUDOVIC LAUDE / MAXPPP
A question remains: did the alleged shooter act alone? According to the courts, this is clearly not the case. “The investigations are far from over“said the prosecutor.”These are not isolated actions, but they are part of a context linked to drug trafficking“There would therefore be a sponsor, whom the police are trying to identify.”We have an idea of his identity, but the search continues“.
As a reminder, August 25, 2024, “shortly after 3 p.m., several calls to 17“reported that”a helmeted individual, dressed all in black, mounted on a two-wheeled vehicle, who fired an automatic weapon at two people“, Yves Cellier, the interdepartmental director of the Doubs national police, told Agence France Presse (AFP).
Two people died in the middle of a summer day. First of all, Fayçal Hakkar, 24 years old, Bisontin, without a profession who lived with his parents, died from five bullets fired into his back, probably fleeing. He was hit in the hip, chest and lung. At the rear base of the skull, three impacts, one of which was a point-blank shot. This Bisontin was convicted in 2022 for drug trafficking, then released. He was also prosecuted for drug use.
The other victim, Saibi Hatem, 30, was of Tunisian nationality. He was in an irregular situation. He had not been the subject of convictions in Besançon. He was hit by three bullets, in the arm, lower back, and chest. A third man, a younger brother of Faycal Hakkar, was targeted by the shooter but is safe. A bullet hole was found on his vehicle.
