A so-called relay hearing was held on the afternoon of Monday, May 6, at the courthouse in the capital of the Cévennes. Two suspects were in the dock. They asked to be released and learned the date of their trial.
It was the evening of July 31, 2021. Around 11 p.m., while the Monsois Olympic lottery was being held, in the Végas room, in Alès, in the presence of around 200 people, three individuals, hooded and armed, stormed out . They shoot into the air, cause panic and try to get the cash back. In vain. They then flee in a car, behind the wheel of which an accomplice was waiting for them. Arrests will then take place, notably in November 2022, in the Cévennes district.
Monday, May 6, in the afternoon, at the courthouse in the capital of the Cévennes, a so-called relay hearing was scheduled for this case. To remain in judicial time while awaiting the trial of the suspects and making a decision on their situation. In fact, there are two of them in the defendant’s box: two brothers aged 22 and 23. This, while four people visibly participated in the robbery. At the end of 2022, five individuals were arrested. One was quickly released and two others have since benefited from a dismissal order. As for the two referred at the beginning of the week, they have been in pre-trial detention for a year and a half. All their requests for release were all rejected…
A fragile file?
During the hearing, Me Sophia Foughar, one of the defense lawyers, recalled that “the two brothers, from the beginning, have proclaimed their innocence” and that if this case is corrected, it is because it is a question of“a case far too fragile to present to a criminal court”. With her colleague Jean-Pierre Bigonnet, she then learned from the mouth of President Cécile Baessa that the trial, basically, would be held on the morning of Friday July 5.
What are the defense lawyers arguing?
Until this date, the two counsels are pleading for their clients to be released and placed under judicial supervision. Something that Mr. Foughar has already requested numerous times before the court and for which Mr. Bigonnet comes to his aid, speaking for his own client: “There is no irrefutable reality of the elements that he is accused of […] How can we keep him in detention when weaknesses were identified during the investigation?”
Detention is required
For his part, Quentin Larroque, the deputy public prosecutor, demands that these two men be kept in detention. To avoid any risk of recurrence and flight abroad of the accused. “Why do you want me to leave when I have my family here and I’m going to be a dad soon?”retorts one of the brothers.
What do the magistrates decide?
The magistrates of the seat follow the indictment of the prosecution. The two suspected robbers will wait in cells to be judged.
