Justice: new twists and turns in the “Escobar of the Sahara” affair

The interrogation of the accused in the “Escobar of the Sahara” case revealed new elements. Thus, reports the daily Assaba in its edition of Monday January 6, one of the accused, prosecuted for false testimony, returned to his statements in which he had affirmed that the ex-brother-in-law of the former president of the Oriental region, Abdenbi Bioui, had been the victim of physical violence.

«The witness’s new statements risk placing the former president of Oriental in an embarrassing situation. observe everyday life. The accused even affirmed before the Casablanca Court of Appeal, during his appearance in court last Friday, that he regretted having given false testimony. He assured that he had never witnessed a scene where the man named Benmoussa was the victim of physical violence.

Questioned by the members of the Court about a possible advantage that Bioui would have promised him in return for this false testimony, he denied it outright. He explained that Bioui was a friend of his father and that when the latter asked him for this favor, one day in a café where he used to have breakfast, he did not refuse. He added that Bioui presented this to him as an act of no consequence, limiting himself to a simple testimony before the police to close the case.

During the same hearing, specifies the daily, the gendarme also implicated in this case also tried to exonerate himself. He denied having acted according to any agenda dictated by the former regional president. He returned to the episode of the immobilization of the vehicle of Bioui’s ex-wife at a roadblock in Oujda.

«He claimed that as a brigade commander, he was informed by his teammate that the vehicle had been stopped because two women sitting in the back were not wearing their seat belts and one of them had refused. to reveal one’s identity», Reports the daily. A search of the vehicle was then decided, he explained.

However, the gendarme’s statements are contradicted by the judicial police reports placed in the file. The Court also recalled that a relative of Bioui’s ex-wife, present in the vehicle, had testified to having been the victim of psychological violence inflicted by the gendarme.

The Court of Appeal also mentioned an incident where the brother of the former president of Oriental allegedly shouted in the face of the gendarme, the latter having ended up kissing his head in an attempt to calm the situation. The hearing was postponed until next Tuesday, concludes the daily.