He became America's most notorious suspected murderer. Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson on December 4 in Manhattan.
Luigi Mangione, suspected of having assassinated an American health insurance boss in revenge against this sector, pleaded not guilty Monday in New York to the charge of murder as a “terrorist” act.
“Not guilty,” pronounced the 26-year-old young man, entering the courtroom of the New York criminal court with his hands and ankles handcuffed and restrained by a metal chain around his waist.
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A wall of police stood behind him during this short 20-minute hearing.
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Luigi Mangione, an engineering graduate and brilliant former student from a wealthy Baltimore family, is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson, CEO of the country's largest private health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, on December 4 in Manhattan. .
Arrested five days later, in a McDonald's in a small rural town 500 km from New York, the young man carried writings suggesting that he wanted revenge against the private health insurance sector.
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The cold-blooded murder of the 50-year-old boss, married and father of two children, whose images captured by video surveillance cameras went around the world, shocked. But numerous reactions also showed the deep anger that Americans feel towards health insurance programs, accused of prioritizing profits over care and refusing reimbursements or dragging out procedures.
« Free Luigi »
The expression “Free Luigi” became common on social networks, where he received many expressions of sympathy, and the New York police expressed concern in an internal memo that he would become “an example to follow”.
“The rhetoric on social media following this murder is extremely alarming. It testifies to what is really bubbling in this country,” said the Minister of Internal Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, on Sunday.
Between ten and twenty people demonstrated Monday morning at the foot of the criminal court, shouting “Health, now”.
“The fact that Luigi is being charged as a terrorist is an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” said Kara Hay, a professor, repeating verbatim an expression launched by Luigi Mangione the day after his arrest.
“I don’t feel terrorized by his actions […] but every day people are terrorized by our corrupt health system,” she accused.
Indicted by citizen grand jury on 11 counts
The arrival of Luigi Mangione in New York on Thursday, from the state of Pennsylvania where he had been arrested, had been carefully staged by the authorities, the images showing the young man, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, escorted slowly by members of the police in helmets and with machine guns slung over their shoulders. The city's mayor, Eric Adams, who has authority over the New York police, accompanied the procession after the helicopter carrying the accused landed.
“A kind of spectacle,” denounced his lawyer, Karen Agnifilo, on Monday. Luigi Mangione has become “political cannon fodder,” she added. “He is not a symbol”, “this must stop”, she insisted again.
Luigi Mangione had already appeared Thursday for the murder of Brian Thompson but as part of a separate procedure opened by the federal courts, before which he faces the death penalty if he is found guilty.
Before the courts of the State of New York, he was indicted by a grand jury of citizens on 11 counts, including that of murder as a “terrorist” act. This trial, where the accused faces life imprisonment, is scheduled before the one before federal justice.
Several elements implicate him in the murder according to the police: his fingerprints were found near the crime scene, as were cartridge cases corresponding to the weapon kit, including certain elements made using a 3D printer , found on him.
