an investigation opened after the face of an accused appearing in hiding was mistakenly broadcast

A technical bug and a very big blunder. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Friday, October 6, after the face of an accused appearing in hiding at the trial of the robber Rédoine Faïd appeared on the screens installed in the courtroom. Since the opening of the trial at the beginning of September, Marc (the first name has been changed) was hidden behind a wooden screen and the courtroom was evacuated at each recess so that he could leave discreetly, the man having changed his life and identity after having “outed” a figure of Corsican organized crime, Jacques Mariani.

Thursday, while he was on the stand, the close-up image of this man appeared for several minutes on the public’s broadcast screens, provoking enthusiastic reactions among those close to Jacques Mariani. Eventually understanding the problem, the police and the accused’s lawyer rushed to try to cover it up, without much success. After a suspension of the hearing, the president, Frédérique Aline, announced that a photo had been taken and distributed on social networks.

The trial will resume on Monday

The trial of Rédoine Faïd before the Paris Assizes was suspended Friday morning and will resume Monday October 9. The revelation of any element allowing the identification or location of a protected person is punishable by five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. The penalties incurred are increased in the event of harm to this person or those around them.

Marc, 48, changed his identity a few years ago, like his wife and their three young children. At the end of 2017, he denounced Jacques Mariani in a double assassination case. On the sidelines of this very big case, he had also spoken to the police about an aborted escape plan, dating from spring 2017. According to him, Rédoine Faïd had asked Jacques Mariani to help him escape, in exchange for targeted assassinations of members of a rival Corsican clan. It is for this project that Jacques Mariani and Marc, who admitted to having played the intermediary, appear before the Paris Assize Court.