Mohamed did not want to change cell at the Nice prison. This is the reason given by Souleyman and Maleaume, 20, his two 20-year-old fellow prisoners, to justify an outburst of violence, Monday, from 4 am. Not content with hitting him with a piece of wood and a frying pan, including when he was on the ground, the attackers filmed him, all smiles. The victim’s family recovered Snapchat videos where their loved one appears inert, bloodied. He was discovered in the showers by a supervisor around 7 a.m.
The prosecution had chosen to return the two detainees this Friday to be tried in immediate appearance. The defendants, prosecuted for aggravated violence, wanted to answer for their actions quickly.
Me Jean-Philippe Pazzano, the victim’s lawyer, challenged the public prosecutor’s choice of immediate appearance. Before the criminal court, the lawyer considered that his client “had been the victim of an attack of rare savagery, rare inhumanity”. “The laws of the Republic must apply to all places, including closed places such as psychiatric hospitals and remand prisons, thundered the lawyer. The prison administration is responsible for the safety of the people entrusted to it by the courts.
“Attempted Murder”
Spokesman for the victim’s family, he asked for further investigation, believing that it was a “attempted murder”. The court, chaired by Edouard Levrault, followed his opinion on the need to carry out further investigations and requested the opening of a judicial investigation. It is now up to an investigating judge to investigate.
Prosecutor Christophe Tricoche, for his part, considered that an instruction was not necessary: “The will to kill cannot, in my opinion, be demonstrated. There is no doubt that this is a serious matter and the defendants, in recidivism, already incur fourteen years in prison for this violence aggravated.”
Me Valérie February, in defense, pleaded that Maleaume, his client, had not intended to kill. “Anger is a bad counselor”she reminded her colleague Me Pazzano. “Certainly the images are impressive but no serious blows have been dealt.” “The victim, after 24 hours of hospitalization returned to the cell”, observed Me Pierre Chami. The temporary interruption of work for Mohamed is more than eight days. Incarcerated for a robbery in a restaurant on Avenue Jean-Jaures in Nice, he was due out in two months. His lawyer will file a request for release.
