A 43-year-old man was sentenced to five years in prison, two of which were suspended, on Tuesday in Marseille, for having defaced a commemorative stele at Saint Charles station in November in tribute to the victims of attacks, we learned Wednesday with the lawyer.
On this monument erected in 2018, the plaque reading “In memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks” had been stolen and its glass base, decorated with a French flag, showed black traces of damage by fire.
The stele had been installed on the square in front of Saint Charles station, where two young women, two cousins, Laura Paumier, 22 years old, and Mauranne Harel, 20 years old, had been stabbed to death on October 1, 2017 by a Tunisian national from 29 years old. The perpetrator of the attack was shot dead by the police. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group. A “timely” claim, according to investigators, who were unable to establish any link between the killer and the jihadist organization.
Identified by video surveillance
After the damage, which occurred on the night of Sunday 10 to Monday 11 November 2024, the forty-year-old was identified in particular thanks to images from video surveillance cameras installed on the station square and placed in pre-trial detention. He was prosecuted for “theft of cultural property falling within the movable public domain” and “damage or deterioration of the property of others by means dangerous to people”.
-The prosecution had requested a five-year prison sentence against this man who was homeless, according to his lawyer Kevin Lefebvre-Goirand. The degradation of the stele was “more of a call for help, than a call for hatred”, emanating from a man “completely desocialized, marginalized”, estimated Kevin Lefebvre-Goirand.
