Vaucluse Assizes: 22 years' imprisonment for homophobic murder in Sorgues
The two instigators of a series of assaults targeting homosexual men have been sentenced to 22 years' imprisonment for the murder of Mickaël, found asphyxiated in his home in 2023.
Vaucluse Assizes: 22 years' imprisonment for homophobic murder in Sorgues
On 8 June, the jury of the Avignon court of assizes delivered its sentence at the conclusion of a week of hearings. The two presumed masterminds of a series of attacks against homosexual men each received 22 years' imprisonment. This decision concerns in particular the homicide of Mickaël, a man in his thirties found dead in his flat in Sorgues in spring 2023. The information is reported by ICI Vaucluse.
The victim, aged 30 at the time of the events, had succumbed to asphyxiation caused by the application of a pillow to his face. The magistrates established the discriminatory nature of the crime: Mickaël's sexual orientation was identified as the motive for the assault.
The sentences imposed nevertheless remain below the public prosecution's submissions, which had called for sentences of 25 and 30 years' imprisonment.
The judicial proceedings also punished three presumed accomplices. One man was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Two women received five years' imprisonment with a suspended sentence and no arrest warrant.
The group used the Coco dating platform to trap its targets. This online application, now closed, had already been used in other cases of attacks on persons.
Source: France Info