The tears of Jacques Mariani, presented as a figure of organized crime, as last words of the trial of the assassinations of Jean-Luc Codaccioni and Antoine Quilichini at Bastia-Poretta airport, December 5, 2017. The hearing started on May 6, comes to an end, this Thursday, June 27, 2024, before the Bouches-du-Rhône Assize Court in Aix-en-Provence. The popular jurors retired to deliberate late in the morning for a verdict expected Friday afternoon.
For his last words from the box of the detained accused, the one who appears free in this case, wants to send messages. First to the lawyers, still present at the hearing: “You are far from being collaborators as I have heard, he says, referring to the tensions between certain challenged lawyers and the counsel who chose to return to the courtroom. Those who said those words should have been here and giving advice.”
The man who has spent 37 years in prison also addresses Jean-Yves Martorano, the president of the court: “You are far from being a crook and a petty president. Mr. Michelosi has been in jail for two months and words have gone beyond his thoughts.” Ange-Marie Michelosi, absent from the box for several weeks, had made an express return to the hearing, during the requisitions to sharply attack the magistrate.
The son of Francis Mariani, presented by the courts as the godfather of La Brise de mer, also sheds a few tears, behind his bifocal glasses when evoking the memory of his father. (editor’s note, he was killed in a hangar explosion in 2009).
“Alain Delon said that growing old was a shipwreck, growing old in prison is just as bad”
He once again gives his vision of the matter: “I would have liked to preserve them (editor’s note, the Guazzelli brothers). I hope you will be fair in your decision in the form of a nice snub to their lawyers. This will show them that they didn’t need it.”
Before delivering a scientific metaphor: “A researcher took a rat and put it in a basin. It drowned. He repeated the experiment and the rat lasted several hours because it had the hope of being saved. Today the rat, It’s me and I want you to acquit me. Alain Delon said that growing old was a disaster, growing old in prison is just as bad.”
The other speeches are less metaphorical. Pink shirt and jeans, José Menconi, listed by the courts as a figure of organized crime, also wants acquittal.
“An acquittal will prevent my name from appearing on a tombstone”
After thanks, François Marchioni also proclaims his innocence. Gaëlle Sker, Richard Guazzelli’s partner, in tears, is on the same line: “Richard (editor’s note, Guazzelli) didn’t show up and I was very angry. I still am. This trial is not mine. I hope you heard me.”
Chloé Castellana, ex-partner of Christophe Guazzelli, confides: “I will have should have had the case dismissed. I am here because I was the partner of one of the accused. I don’t want to be a miscarriage of justice.”
Dominique Sénéchal, ex-husband of Cathy Chatelain, simply wishes “turn this page for my children and my family.”
For Jimmy Bailleul, another inmate who returned to the box, “An acquittal will prevent my name from appearing on a tombstone.”
