Little by little, Boulevard Saint-Germain comes to life. Traffic is getting denser. It’s around 6 p.m. and, as usual, cars coexist with difficulty with buses, bikes, scooters, motorbikes… But this Wednesday evening, it’s even more complicated. The police condemned a traffic lane, the one near Mabillon, a famous German establishment. The system is slowly being put in place to accommodate the reconstruction of the murder of Federico Martín-Aramburu, a 42-year-old former Argentine rugby player killed here on March 19, 2022.
The curious inquire with the handful of journalists present. And the residents of the neighborhood remember: “Ah yes, the murder of Mabillon”. Only those who can prove their address are authorized to enter the perimeter maintained by the police.
Magistrates, lawyers, judicial police investigators, all are present to relive this tragic morning. With one challenge: confronting the declarations of everyone on the ground, comparing them to ballistics, what position for whom and above all, this confrontation must make it possible to highlight the inconsistencies and incompatibilities of the declarations. To do this, the Jeep in which the suspects were traveling was taken out of the garage. Around 8 p.m., a tarpaulin stamped “police headquarters” is deployed so that this reconstruction takes place out of sight. Some relatives of the suspects have made the trip but will stay away.
Assassination or murder?
Indicted and witnesses will take turns without being able to hear what each one is saying. The two main alleged perpetrators, Loïk Le Priol, 28 years old and Romain Bouvier, 32 years old, appear wearing a heavy helmet, their faces covered with a surgical mask, bulletproof vests on their shoulders. These two figures of the ultra-right are in pre-trial detention. Questioned by our colleagues from France Bleu Pays basque, Me Christophe Cariou-Martin, lawyer for Shaun Hegarty, friend of Frederico Martin-Aramburu present at the time of the facts and constituted a civil party, explains that the aim of this reconstitution is “to rule out, in the end, any theory other than that of intentional homicide committed with premeditation.” During the investigation, Loïk Le Priol effectively contested this premeditation.
Boulevard Saint-Germain (Paris VI), this Wednesday, November 8. The Jeep in which the suspects were traveling was taken out for the reconstruction. Jean-Baptiste Quentin
On March 19, around 6:45 a.m., Federico Martín-Aramburu was shot five times in front of his hotel, approximately 100 m from Le Mabillon where he had an altercation a few minutes earlier. He collapsed in front of number 146 boulevard Saint-Germain. A few days after their flight, the two suspects were arrested. The Priol was caught in Hungary, a transit country since it had planned to go to Ukraine. Bouvier is arrested in Sarthe. A man who allegedly helped him escape is indicted for “concealment of a criminal”. The fourth person involved in this case is Lyson Rochemir, Le Priol’s partner, indicted for complicity in murder. She is suspected of having driven the Jeep that transported the two main suspects the night of the murder.
None of the lawyers contacted wished to speak before this reconstruction which was to continue until late at night from Wednesday to Thursday.
