Omar Raddad case: justice reopens the file

Omar Raddad case: justice reopens the file

The judicial thinning expected for thirty years.This Thursday, December 16, an investigation commission of the Court of Cassation decided to reopen the file of the trial of Omar Raddad, Moroccan gardener sentenced for the murder of Ghislaine Marchal, on June 23, 1991 in Mougins in the Alpes-Maritimes.At 2 p.m. precisely, at the Paris courthouse, the Court made its decision.

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She was based on the revision file of Me Sylvie Noachovitch, lawyer of Omar Raddad, who had filed her on June 22, then answered questions from the judges on November 25, accompanied by her client.The latter was not present this Thursday.With Figaro, his lawyer said her "immense joy and immense hope"."A request for review is always extremely delicate.But justice had the courage to look at this dossier, to recognize its very serious arguments, ”she said."I immediately warned Omar, who was extremely moved, and immediately testified his gratitude, especially in French justice, in which he still believes," she also recalled.

Omar Raddad had been sentenced in 1994 to eighteen years' imprisonment, then partially pardoned by Jacques Chirac, and had a total of 7 years and two months in prison.In a lapidary hearing, the magistrates declared this Thursday "accepting the requests for additional information" made by the defense, announcing that the justice would proceed to the investigation of the revision.

A "formidable and courageous" decision

Affaire Omar Raddad : la justice rouvre le dossier

Concretely, the institution will bounce back on the scientific analyzes presented by Me Noachovitch, and which highlight four male DNA on conviction pieces, none corresponding to that of Omar Raddad.On the doors, carrying the famous inscriptions "Omar kill me" and "Omar t", a DNA is thus 35 times, in particular mixed with the blood of the victim, or between the traces of the fingers of Ghislaine Marchal… As if it had been held by the hand by writing its accusation.

A first review request was made in 2001, by the first lawyer Jacques Vergès, without success.But new expertise had notably been allowed by a 2014 law, carried by deputies Georges Fenech (present this Thursday to testify to his support) and Alain Tourret.The latter authorizes a condemned assize to ask for investigations to facilitate a request for revision of trials, a normally extremely rare procedure.

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Early support, Academician Jean-Marie Rouart praised a "formidable and courageous" decision.As for the family of Ghislaine Marchal, she declared in a statement sent to AFP "to take note" of the decision ordering additional investigations.The victim's family "hopes that these investigations make it possible to put an end to a case painfully experienced by them" and "hopes that this new judicial part will take place in a calm media climate", according to the press release.

After the checks requested from experts and investigators, the next step could therefore be to rule definitively on the request for rehabilitation of Omar Raddad.Justice will have several choices: reject the file again, revise the trial, or break the judgment, making the Moroccan gardener the innocence that he has always proclaimed.