Burqa killers in Toulouse: increased sentences on appeal in Albi
For three weeks in Albi, the Assize Court of the Tarn retried the defendants whom the justice considered involved in the assassination of Djamel Tahri, on July 3, 2017 in the district of La Reynerie, in Toulouse. This Friday, the jurors confirmed the guilt and even increased the main sentences.
Who is under the burqa on the evening of July 3, 2017, in Toulouse? A disguise to be able to approach the Auriacombe deal point, at La Reynerie, and shoot Djamel Tahri with several Kalashnikov bullets. After the appeal trial which has just ended before the Tarn Assize Court, the answer remains unanswered. Advocate General Nicolas Ruff explained in his indictment that he had “the conviction” that it was Walid Derqaoui, 30 years old today.
“Conviction perhaps but surely not proof”, stormed the lawyers, Mes Caroline Marty-Daudibertières, Pierre Le Bonjour and Hugues Vigier. The jurors followed the requisitions. They sentenced Walid Derqaoui to life imprisonment for “complicity in murder”.
Two life sentences confirmed
As in first instance but adding 22 years of security sentence. Walid Derqaoui, aged 30, cannot hope to leave prison before February 2040. “We are going to appeal to the Court of Cassation”, announces Me Le Bonjour, always upset against the work of the judicial police “because the debates showed an investigation disloyalty. We suspect it, the debates have brought the proof!
Abdelkader Ramdani, 47, the Lyonnais who had left his DNA on three casings fired the evening of the execution, and who remained silent during the three weeks of debate, is also sentenced to life with 22 years of security sentence. His lawyer, Me Amar Bouaou, with the agreement of his client, acknowledged his presence at La Reynerie that evening, gun in hand. “But he has no blood on his hands. He is not under the burqa”, argued the Parisian lawyer.
The only confirmed release
The Jamel and Kamel Bettouati brothers, close to Walid Derqaoui, have seen their effectiveness proven. Kamel, 27, will spend 15 years in detention despite the plea of Me Emmanuelle Franck. And Mes Darrigade and Martin failed to convince the jurors of the claimed innocence of his brother Jamel, 30, sentenced for complicity to 22 years in prison – 25 years in the first instance.
The President Pierre Dunac, alongside Yacine Frikass, 26, heard the court pronounce 12 years of criminal imprisonment – 15 years at first instance. Finally, Me Axelle Chorier, who opened the pleadings with conviction and arguments on Wednesday, obtained confirmation of the release of Hakim Rafi, Lyonnais cousin of Derqaoui. This 37-year-old boy has always claimed to know nothing about this case.
At the end of a rowdy verdict, with some insults and invectives, Me Laurent de Caunes lawyer for the family of Djamel Tahri confides: “The family is satisfied with the response of justice. His sisters know that it is heavy penalties but they are justified”.