30 years in prison for Frenchman after double murder in Switzerland
Published: Wednesday, Jul 3rd 2024, 20:20
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A 25-year-old Frenchman was sentenced to 30 years in prison in Besançon (F) on Wednesday. The court found him guilty of double murder and three counts of attempted murder in a drug deal gone wrong in Switzerland in 2020. His dealers had substituted cannabis with soap.
The jury court of the Doubs department did not impose any additional security detention after the sentence had been served, according to the French news agency AFP. When the presiding judge asked the defendant to make his closing remarks, he stammered his apologies to the families of the victims.
The court followed the prosecution's request with the prison sentence. Their demand for 15 years' preventive detention after serving the sentence was in vain.
The crime took place on February 29, 2020 in an apartment in Grandson VD. The victims were two 20-year-old Swiss men from whom the Frenchman had ordered several kilos of cannabis together with others. However, they had mixed the drug up with soap. When the customers noticed this, the now 25-year-old grabbed a gun, shot and fled.
Each shot was aimed at a vital organ. The accused had hit all the victims in the head or temple, the public prosecutor explained. The intent to kill was therefore proven.
Defense claims panic
The defense pleaded for assault resulting in death without intent to kill. The shots had been fired in panic. The defendant had found himself surrounded by six strangers in a cramped apartment on that day, although the transaction was supposed to take place in a parking lot.
However, the psychological report stated that the accused was not an emotional person. He had only had the goal of obtaining money to pay off debts.
As France does not extradite its own citizens, there were two criminal proceedings in the case, with France and Switzerland working closely together. The Vaud public prosecutor's office suspended its proceedings following the takeover by France, as it informed AFP.
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