«I looked death in the face, a determination to kill. The injuries and physical pain inflicted on me are one thing. The worst thing is that I can't go a week without one, two, three sleepless nights. I see those hateful faces again, of furious madmen. I can no longer walk past anyone without being afraid of being chased by knives. »
This is what Mario Livolsi wrote to the Charente-Maritime Assize Court. The letter, dated November 3, was read at the start of the second day of hearing, this Thursday, November 21. If he did not come to attend the trial of his attackers, from November 20 to 22, it was because this risked accentuating “a strong psychosomatic disorder” in him.
Mario Livolsi, 59, is not an altar boy. The 15 convictions on his record place him in organized crime. Armed robbery with kidnapping of hostages, criminal conspiracy, importation of narcotics but also a case of murder and attempted murder which earned him 30 years of criminal imprisonment in 2002.
An auxiliary role
“Livolsi is what we call an elder. His profile and his seniority mean that for him, calm detention is for the good of the community. It allows everyone to evolve in a positive way. He had the role of “auxi”, a position of trust. He is an intelligent man, very polite to everyone, capable of conveying messages in detention,” describes the director of the central house of Saint-Martin-de-Ré at the time of the events, on 1is November 2021.
That morning, Jamil Essouri, 39, came to meet him in the walking area. On the video surveillance images, after invectives, we see him rushing towards him and hitting him in the head. Livolsi protects himself with a mini football goal. Then, he steps back and falls to the ground, hit by Dhoul-Arham Bacari, 28 years old. The two men continue blows. Seven wounds are attributable to a bladed weapon. According to the medical examiner, two could have been fatal.
“The penal population has changed a little. There are more young people, tougher, more impulsive”
Essouri has always denied using a blade. He changes his version, explaining that he recovered a “homemade weapon” taken from Livolsi's hands, hence his injury to his little finger. “I admit to having been beaten. I hit him with it, without thinking, randomly. I never wanted to kill him. »
“I am not Abbé Pierre”
What is the origin of the quarrel? The supervisors link it to an altercation the day before between Livolsi and Oualid Mezaoui, who formed with Essouri, whom he had known in Baumettes, and Bacari, the “Marseillais clan”. It is said that they attacked more fragile prisoners. “The old one” would have stood in their way. “I’m not Abbé Pierre but there are things I don’t like,” Livolsi told investigators.
“I never extorted anyone, no one paid me to do anything,” Bacari retorts. Essouri denies having been Mezaoui’s “armed arm”.
Behind this affair lies a generational conflict. The Saint-Martin-de-Ré prison is initially dedicated to long sentences, with inmates looking for a certain calm. In recent years, she has had to integrate inmates with shorter sentences. “The penal population has changed a little. There are more young people, tougher, more impulsive,” notes a head guard.
The center must “decongest” a prison system which is saturated. We direct “detention routes that pose problems,” explains the director. Mezaoui took a psychiatric nurse hostage from the Salon-de-Provence detention center on July 31, 2018, with six years in prison. Bacari was considered one of the leaders of a mutiny in Uzerche (19) in March 2020. Essouri has multiplied the incidents resulting in sentences without interruption since 2013.
« Frustration »
On Wednesday, they explained that they felt in danger in Saint-Martin-de-Ré, among “killers and pointers”. “My arms are falling,” reacts the director. He says he “gave a chance” to Essouri, to avoid the temptation of radicalization and to begin preparing for reintegration. He had, like Livolsi, an “auxi” role, which he lost after breaking the rules. “It caused such frustration that he got into conflict with the institution. »
The videos show Essori very upset and threatening after the fight. He repents at the bar, he who was to be released 20 months later. “I was angry because once again I ruined everything. » The court must decide this Friday, November 22 to what extent, by ruling in particular on possible premeditation.
