A man was tried in his absence by the Rhône Assize Court on Tuesday 1is October 2024, for a murder committed in 2009 in Villeurbanne. A 35-year-old man was shot and killed at close range for refusing to sell a pack of cigarettes. The accused was already convicted for these acts in May 2015 in his country of origin, Algeria, where he is currently serving a twenty-year prison sentence, reports France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes .
This time, he was sentenced to thirty years of criminal imprisonment and banned from entering the national territory. A sentence in accordance with the requisitions of the attorney general.
A recognition for the family
It is in particular the past of the accused which motivated such a sentence. At the time of the murder, he was on parole after having served twenty years in prison for a hold-up committed in 1984.
“This is what the family wanted. No less, no more. They are recognized as victims. Fifteen years later, it’s the beginning of the grieving process for them,” explained the family’s lawyer, Me Metaxas. This is confirmed by the victim’s widow, the only one to have spoken at the trial: “We were still waiting, today perhaps the legal page will be turned. » Especially since the trial in Algeria took place “without witnesses, without the civil parties, without the victims, without anyone being informed”, adds the lawyer.
To find out more: read the article by France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes .
