Aramburu murder: 27 years sought against Le Priol, 20 years against Bouvier in Paris
The crown prosecutor has sought 27 years' imprisonment against Loïc Le Priol and 20 years against Romain Bouvier for the murder of rugby player Federico Aramburu in 2022. The verdict is expected on Friday.
Aramburu trial: prosecutors seek 27 years for Le Priol, 20 years for Bouvier
Crown prosecutor Philippe Courroye sought, on Wednesday 23 September, twenty-seven years' criminal imprisonment against Loïc Le Priol and twenty years' imprisonment against Romain Bouvier before the Paris assize court, according to franceinfo.fr. The two far-right activists are being tried for the murder of former Argentine rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu, who was shot twice in the back during the night of 19 March 2022, on the terrace of the Mabillon bar in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. The prosecution is not seeking the maximum sentence, but the two accused still face life imprisonment. A requirement for socio-medical care is also being sought for each of them. The verdict is expected on Friday.
The trial opened on 7 September. Loïc Le Priol is being prosecuted for murder, Romain Bouvier for attempted murder. For more than two weeks, the two men have been accounting for an alcohol-fuelled quarrel that escalated into murder.
"A murderous mechanism"
Philippe Courroye described the sequence of events as "the unfolding of a murderous mechanism that leads to irreparable harm". The crown prosecutor compared this mechanism "to the four strokes of an engine" — that of a Jeep central to the criminal case: "the intake of gas or petrol, the compression, the explosion and the exhaust."
Throughout the hearings, Loïc Le Priol has denied any premeditation, pleading self-defence. "You have to have nerve to claim self-defence in this case," Philippe Courroye replied. He noted that Le Priol's statements have been "inconsistent" and that there was no imminent danger at the time of the shots. "If you are afraid of a napkin with three ice cubes," quipped the crown prosecutor, referring to the ice cubes retrieved from a hotel by Federico Martin Aramburu and his friend Shaun Hegarty to treat their injuries following an initial fight. Courroye recalled that the former serviceman had fired six times and hit the victim four times.
On the post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed in Le Priol in 2015, raised by the defence to support a claim of impaired judgment, the crown prosecutor concluded, in light of psychiatric expert reports, that "no element makes it possible to affirm that the syndrome was active at the time of the facts". He added: "The war-traumatised person does not chase after the symptoms of war."
Bouvier: "one must distinguish result from intention"
Romain Bouvier, who fired four shots and hit the victim twice, asserted during the hearings that he had neither the intention to kill nor even to injure. The crown prosecutor refuted this argument: "He failed [to kill], but one must distinguish result from intention. There are four shots, deliberate, and a magazine that is emptied."
Drawing on surveillance footage and the conclusions of a forensic pathologist, Courroye disputed Bouvier's repeated assertion that he "did not deliberately fire towards the ground".
On premeditation, the crown prosecutor concluded that "the intention to kill is obvious" for both accused, notably because the rugby players were unarmed. He also stressed that the criminal records of this "malignant duo" are "indicative of dangerousness" to society. Le Priol and Bouvier were notably convicted of collective violence against Edouard Klein, former leader of the GUD, a far-right splinter group dissolved by the government in 2024. "If the motive in this case is neither political nor xenophobic, the association of these individuals with the GUD is not unrelated to their downward spiral and the facts," Courroye stated.
Co-accused
The public prosecutor furthermore requested that Lyson Rochemir, Loïc Le Priol's partner at the time of the facts, not be convicted as an accomplice to attempted murder. She was driving the Jeep transporting Romain Bouvier during the night of the incident. The crown prosecutor sought three years' imprisonment against her, of which one year suspended, for tampering with a crime scene, theft, receipt of stolen goods and discarding of objects.
For Anthony Sorrentino, a sentence of three years' imprisonment, of which two years suspended, is being sought. He is accused of having concealed evidence and of having aided Romain Bouvier during his brief flight after the facts.
The Paris assize court will deliver its verdict on Friday.
Source: Le Monde - Justice