Trial in Paris for the murder of former Argentine rugby player Federico Aramburu
Proceedings against two far-right activists accused of killing Aramburu in 2022 began this Monday at the Paris Criminal Court.
Trial begins in Paris for the death of former Puma Federico Aramburu
On Monday, 8 September, proceedings began at the Paris Criminal Court into the murder of Federico Martín Aramburu, a former international Argentine rugby player shot dead in the French capital in March 2022. According to iusport.com, two far-right activists are in the dock: Loik Le Priol, 32, accused of murder, and Romain Bouvier, 35, of attempted murder.
Both are linked to Groupe Union Défense (GUD), a far-right organisation dissolved by the French government in 2024. The two had previously been convicted of a violent assault committed in 2015 against a former leader of the movement itself.
"Justice for Fede": tribute from Los Pumas
The family and Argentine rugby kept the memory of the former international alive until the eve of the trial. On Saturday, ahead of the match against Australia in Mendoza, all Los Pumas players took the field wearing black shirts bearing the inscription "Justice for Fede". Aramburu had played 22 matches for the Argentine national team and was part of the squad that won bronze at the 2007 World Cup.
Retired from sport, he spent much of his career in France, particularly in Biarritz, where he lived and ran a tourism business with his former teammate Shaun Hegarty. He was 42 years old when he died.
The night of the crime on Boulevard Saint-Germain
In the early hours of 19 March 2022, Aramburu and Hegarty were in a café on Boulevard Saint-Germain. At the adjoining table were Le Priol, Bouvier and Le Priol's then partner, Lyson Rochemir. An apparently minor argument escalated into a fight, after which both groups separated. The former players headed calmly towards their hotel, believing the incident had been settled.
However, Le Priol and Bouvier went after them armed. According to the investigation, Bouvier fired four times at Aramburu from a pickup truck; seconds later, Le Priol approached on foot and fired six more shots. The former rugby player lay on the ground with six projectiles in his body. Wounds to the lung, kidney and liver caused his death.
Le Priol, a former member of the French Navy, fled after the crime and was arrested four days later in Hungary when attempting to cross into Ukraine. Bouvier was also arrested four days later in the French region of Sarthe.
Premeditation, central question of the trial
The prosecution must prove premeditation of the crime, an element that under French law transforms manslaughter into murder. Le Priol admits to firing shots, but contends he acted out of "survival instinct" after believing the initial shots came from his adversaries. Bouvier claims, for his part, that he fired to intimidate, with no intention to kill.
Among the investigation findings are witness accounts stating that Le Priol would have said "I'm going to kill him" and "we'll find them" after the fight, as well as CCTV images reconstructing the accused's return to the scene of the crime.
The history of both men will also be under scrutiny. The 2015 conviction for the assault on Édouard Klein, a former GUD leader, had at that time recognised a partial diminution of Le Priol's responsibility linked to post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his military service, a matter that will be raised again in this trial.
Four accused in total
Along with Le Priol and Bouvier, two other people will be tried: Lyson Rochemir, then Le Priol's partner, for complicity in attempted murder, and Antony Sorrentino, a friend of Bouvier, for helping him to hide and dispose of the weapon used.
The trial is expected to continue until 25 September.
Source: Google News AR — Crime