Jamil Essouri, 39, spent almost half his life in prison. He has not been released since 2013. Dhoul-Arham Bacari, 28, has been behind bars for six years. Both have committed theft, violence and outrages, partly committed behind bars.
This time, they risk life imprisonment. The assassination attempt judged from Wednesday November 20 to Friday November 22 before the Charente-Maritime Assize Court has the particularity of taking place in a prison environment, at the central house of Saint-Martin-de-Ré.
The scene takes place under the eye of cameras monitoring the walking area, on 1is November 2021, around 8:45 a.m. We see Essouri, followed by Bacari, cross a first courtyard and reach a sports field. They stop a few meters from an inmate, insults are exchanged. Suddenly, Essouri rushes at the man, who protects himself with a mini football goal. He retreats towards a grassy area where Bacari hits him in turn. He falls to the ground where the duo hit him again. A group of inmates intervene and push Essouri and Bacari back towards the first courtyard.
Seven plagues
The victim's name is Mario Levelsi. This figure of organized crime was sentenced to thirty years of criminal imprisonment for murder and attempted murder, facts dating back to 1998 in Toulon, in the Var. After the fight, we see him trying to attack his attackers, throwing stones at them. Immediately, he returns to his cell.
The court views photos of his t-shirt, covered in blood. The doctor counted seven wounds, on the scalp, neck, legs, for a total of 31 stitches. He refused to file a complaint. “You have the videos,” he told investigators. On images filmed by a supervisor's body-worn camera, we witness the aftermath of the brawl. “Essouri, give the Opinel to the colleague,” we hear a guard say. According to several testimonies, the thirty-year-old carried a knife and the other held a sort of homemade pick.
The Marseillais clan
The guards say their bags were packed in their cell, as if they knew they were going to be transferred. This justifies premeditation and therefore the qualification of “attempted assassination”. The attack could have followed an altercation the day before between Levelsi and another detainee, close to Essouri. They had known each other in Baumettes, they were nicknamed “the Marseillais clan”. Levelsi allegedly criticized them for putting pressure on weaker inmates.
In Saint-Martin-de-Ré, I was with killers and pointers. I didn't belong there, I'm not a criminal. I just defended myself. I was hurt, I almost lost my hand
There are images and there is what they don't say. Although in a closed place, the blades were never found. In the video, it is not easy to distinguish them. Essouri himself was injured in his right little finger. The tendon was cut and he had to be operated on in Bordeaux. “One hypothesis could be that he tried to grab a weapon,” says his lawyer, Mr.e Benoît Poquet, lacking certainty.
“Child of Fear”
The defendants admit to participating in a fight, nothing more. “In Saint-Martin-de-Ré, I was with killers and pointers. I didn't belong there, I'm not a criminal. I just defended myself. I was injured, I almost lost my hand,” proclaims Jamil Essouri. Beard collar, glasses, smooth skull, he takes on the appearance of a man posed in the Plexiglas cage placed on the accused's box.
A Plexiglas shell was placed on the accused box.
Philippe Menard
Born in Cannes, he would never have overcome the violence his father, who is now deceased, subjected him to. A psychologist describes him as “a child of fear and threat.” He expressed his desire for reintegration but also told the specialist that he would be ready to kill when he was outside. Before this case, it was scheduled to be released in August 2023.
Mutiny in Uzerche
Born in Mayotte, Dhoul-Arham Bacari arrived in mainland France at the age of 12, joining his mother, who had left five years earlier to settle in Limoges. He has four brothers and three sisters. He received his first sentences as a teenager. His transfer to Charente-Maritime is linked to a mutiny at the Uzerche detention center, in Corrèze, on March 22, 2020. “I followed the movement, it’s true. I found myself as leader, I didn’t understand,” he says.
He was due to be released on January 17, 2024. “When I arrived in Saint-Martin-de-Ré, it was a shock. In a power station, there are only big sentences. I was a lamb among all these people. » The day of Thursday, November 21 will begin with the reading of the hearings of Mario Levelsi, who refused to testify live in court.
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