Acquitted at first instance, while the prosecution had requested a sentence of 25 years in prison, a 34-year-old ex-shepherd is retried at the assizes from Monday in Bastia for the assassination in November 2017 of a local elected official, who 'he always denied it. During the first trial in December 2020 in Ajaccio, punctuated by incidents, the court acquitted him, provoking the immediate appeal of the general prosecutor's office in the face of a verdict which had stunned the investigators and the public prosecutor.
Patrick Julien, 52, deputy mayor of Soccia, was found dead at the wheel of his backhoe loader, engine running, hit by two shots of buckshot and a fatal shot from a large caliber bullet in the head.
Antoine Pietri, then a goat breeder, always proclaimed his innocence, with two hunger and thirst strikes during his pre-trial detention.
According to the investigation, he had “an altercation” with the victim six days before the facts and a dispute between them concerning the land where the murder took place. A pump-action shotgun belonging to Mr. Pietri had been found, with ammunition possibly matching that used, and two bullet cases bearing a DNA trace of the shepherd found at the crime scene.
To explain the presence of these shell casings, Mr. Pietri explained that he regularly went to this land with his goats and was able to shoot in the air one or two days before to call them. The breeder, however, gave two versions of his schedule on the day of the murder.
-In the absence of a direct witness, the time of the assassination, estimated between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., should once again be at the heart of the debates, Mr. Pietri having been seen by several people at the beginning of the afternoon in Orto, neighboring village of Soccia, where the events took place.
A single DNA
In Ajaccio, the attorney general had requested 25 years of criminal imprisonment against the shepherd, who would face life imprisonment, ensuring that he had “killed with premeditation” and that there was “certainties” despite his denials: “At the scene, only his DNA was found.”
The defense pleaded for acquittal by criticizing the work “fair” investigators, an investigating judge “inexperienced” and witnesses and leads “left behind”. After less than three hours of deliberation, the jurors acquitted the accused. “We are waiting for acquittal” once again, Me Paul Sollacaro, one of Antoine Pietri's lawyers, told AFP. He “will proclaim his innocence as he has done from the beginning and we will redo the work of criticizing the investigation and dismantle one by one the charges that we wanted to place on our client”he added.
On the civil parties side, Me Célia Marcaggi-Mattei, for the victim's mother and brother, hopes that “u“A response from justice can be achieved calmly” and “with respect”.
“The family is waiting for answers and for the truth to be revealed about the circumstances that led to this immense tragedy,” declared to AFP Me Pierre-Dominique Cervetti, representing the victim's ex-wife.
The appeal trial of this ex-shepherd, who at the time of the events only had a suspended sentence on his criminal record for drug use, is due to last until Wednesday January 29.
