French prosecutors request trial over player's murder
NEWS: French prosecutors have requested two far-right activists be tried for the 2022 Paris murder of retired Argentine international Federico Martin Aramburu, sources close to the case said Monday.
An investigating magistrate will take the final decision on sending the case to court.
Aramburu, 42, was in a bar with another player in Paris on March 19, 2022 when they argued with Loik Le Priol and Romain Bouvier.
After the sportsmen left, the two accused are suspected of having fired several shots at Aramburu, who died of his wounds.
Le Priol, 30, is a former commando and member of a recently dissolved ultra-right movement.
He was arrested four days after the shooting at the Hungary-Ukraine border, where he told police he was “going to Ukraine to fight” after Russia’s invasion.
Bouvier, 33, is a close friend of Le Priol.
Contacted by AFP, their lawyers did not comment.
Le Priol and Bouvier were in June 2022 sentenced to two and three years in jail respectively for beating up another far-right activist in 2015.
Le Priol had in 2017 been handed a four-month suspended jail term for assault.
The lawyer for the Aramburu family, Yann Le Bras, said they were “relieved” prosecutors had called for a trial.
Aramburu had been living in the southern town of Biarritz after retiring.
He played for Perpignan, Biarritz and Dax in France as well as Glasgor Warriors.
He earned 22 caps for Argentina from 2004 to 2009.
