Arrested after two months on the run, the main suspect in the murder of Lilian Dejean, a municipal employee killed in Grenoble on September 6, was arrested Thursday in Portugal, authorities said. He was arrested by Portuguese law enforcement, who collaborated with the French judicial police. The municipal employee was shot twice in the chest while trying to detain the suspect, who had just caused a road accident.
VideoTribute to the agent killed in Grenoble: “He was always there to help others”
This Friday, the Grenoble public prosecutor, Éric Vaillant, detailed the profile of the suspect and revealed the outlines of his arrest during a press conference. Here's what you need to remember.
Arrested “in a town 70 km north of Porto”, the suspect, aged 24, is named Abdoul Diallo, confirmed Éric Vaillant. His name, known for several weeks, had leaked to the press after the discovery, by investigators, of an identity document in an damaged car, abandoned in front of Grenoble town hall before the murder.
The man, whose motivations are still unknown, is unfavorably known to the police, according to the public prosecutor. Incarcerated for the first time at the age of 15, the suspect has already been convicted 19 times, “mainly for acts of violence”, but also for “drug trafficking”. “He was sentenced to six years in farm prison over the last ten years,” said the magistrate.
Detained in Portugal, Abdoul Diallo must be returned to France “in several weeks”, according to the prosecutor, who nevertheless does not risk giving a date. If he wishes, the suspect can in fact oppose his extradition and force the Portuguese justice system to rule on his fate. A possibility which would considerably delay his return to France.
The arrest of the suspect was made possible thanks to the “work of the police and magistrates”, but also thanks to “the excellent European police and judicial cooperation”, explained Éric Vaillant. In detail, DCOS (Organized and Specialized Crime Division) 38 and 69 worked together in the search for the suspect, specifies the public prosecutor.
Once presented to an investigating judge, Abdoul Diallo should be indicted for “murder of a person entrusted with a public service mission”, “unintentional injury” and “possession of category B weapons”.
