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Murder of a couple in Guatemala: a Frenchman tried for complicity in murder after 20 years on the run
Murder of a couple in Guatemala: a Frenchman tried for complicity in murder after 20 years on the run
(France 2)
The trial of Thierry Ascione for complicity in assassination will open on Tuesday October 1 in Paris. He has already been convicted in absentia in this case of murder of a couple of French restaurateurs in Guatemala, but he was on the run. His run lasted 20 years.
On October 4, 2021, after a storm, a sailboat was rescued off the coast of Indonesia. Thierry Ascione is on board. At 62, the man looks relaxed. However, he is wanted for complicity in murder and fraud, facts which date back more than 30 years.
In December 1991 in Guatemala, a couple of restaurateurs from Orléans (Loiret) were found dead. Local justice quickly charged two French nationals. A third individual fled. This is Thierry Ascione. A few weeks earlier, the man would have wanted to buy one of the couple’s establishments. Shortly after the assassination, Thierry Ascione allegedly withdrew, via false transfer orders, $80,000 from the couple’s bank accounts.
Thierry Ascione remained untraceable until this day in 1995, when he landed in Paris, coming from Thailand. Incarcerated then released while awaiting his judgment, the man disappears again. In his absence in 2001, the courts sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment. For 20 years, Thierry Ascione traveled in Southeast Asia under multiple identities. Now imprisoned in France, Thierry Ascione admits to having defrauded the restaurateurs, but denies his participation in their assassination. He faces life imprisonment.
Watch the full report in the video above.