A resident of Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) is currently on trial by the Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court since Tuesday January 14, 2025 for having played a role in the shootings that occurred in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) in April 2019.
As a reminder, in April 2019, the city of Nantes was the scene of bloody settling of scores against a backdrop of drug trafficking: in this case, several men were injured during episodes of gunfire in the Bellevue district.
At the time, Mohamed XXX, a drug trafficker well known to the justice system, would have decided to betray “the boss of bosses”, Issam XXX, and to “cut the prices” of the drug market, which would have triggered the fury of the second and a series of reprisals. The young man was therefore targeted by an attempted murder on the night of April 4 to 5, 2019, and his hand was seriously injured.
“Issam is at the origin of a real war and uses his little dogs”declared Mohamed XXX, thus directing the investigation towards his rival, on the run in Morocco and whom the courts did not consider appropriate to refer to the Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court.
CLOSE TO ANOTHER ACCUSED
Kevin XXX, 31, was charged by an investigating judge of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Rennes in an indictment order (OMA) dated September 22, 2023 for the sole “criminal association »: his “best friend” Anthony XXX had admitted that he “stockpiled weapons” to “give them to people who shoot in the air in the neighborhood” and he himself had a lifestyle inconsistent with the fact that he had no declared activity. His journeys were also suspicious, in the eyes of investigators.
On January 26, 2024, the investigative chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeal found that there were not “sufficient charges” against him to have him appear, like others, for “attempted organized gang murder”, nor for offenses relating to weapons legislation.
On the other hand, the investigating chamber had considered that there was indeed reason to judge this father of two children – who lived at the time in Bellevue – for “criminal association” with a view to “preparing crimes », an offense which remains punishable by ten years of imprisonment.
-Another protagonist in the case had in fact explained to investigators that he and his friend Anthony XXX – nicknamed “Big Deal” or even “the boss of Malakoff”, another sensitive district of Nantes – were doing “weird things” and that they “led in a big way”. A “pair of gloves” was also discovered in Kevin XXX’s motorcycle, revealing “several particles compatible with powder residue”. He and his friend had also used their companions' phones to communicate.
HE HAS “NOTHING TO REPRODUCE” AND TAKES REFUGE WITH HIS PARENTS-IN-LAW
“He could not ignore his friend’s involvement in a criminal enterprise linked to narcotics”had deduced the investigating chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeal. The police officers from the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) therefore tried to arrest the two friends, each in their car, but both had escaped them. The police had even accused Kevin XXX of having rushed towards them to flee, but he contested these accusations and they were never pursued by the courts.
“Panic-stricken”, he had simply left with his wife and children in Maine-et-Loire, to stay with his in-laws, thinking he had nothing to “reproach himself for”, explained his wife this Friday, January 17, 2025 during her testimony before the Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court. “It’s true that we could have done things differently”she simply conceded.
When he was released from detention, his wife returned to live in Anjou with her children, to be closer to her family. Since then, the thirty-year-old has been released and settled in Cholet with them. And today, Kevin XXX assures that he was “unaware” of this criminal project.
From now on, this man only condemned for acts of “driving without a license” just hope I can “build your house” and “be well” with his family. This “very shy”, defended by Me Sobieslaw Bemmoussat, will therefore ask to be acquitted by the Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court, following the verdict which is expected this Friday, January 24, 2025./CB
