The young man was found guilty of violence resulting in death without intention to give it. The Vesoul Assize Court delivered its verdict on Tuesday, September 20, after two days of hearing: five years in prison, four of which are suspended. But for the benefit of the ten months he has already spent in pre-trial detention, the jurors felt he could walk out of court free.
On July 7, 2016, during a fight, Meddy Lahssen threw a bar table that had fatally hit Pierre Curien, on a terrace in the Place d’Armes, in Belfort. The 62-year-old man, resident of Plancher-les-Mines, had nothing to do with the brawl. He had simply come for a drink to celebrate the victory of the Blues against Germany, in the semi-finals of the Euro football.
– Jean Michel Nagat
It’s light to have killed someone”
This Tuesday evening, at the exit of the court, the relatives of the victim were completely stunned. “I still expected a heavier sentencereacts Catherine. He (Meddy Lahssen) will sleep peacefully, at home, alongside his family, and we will never see our friend again. It’s light for killing someone.”
– Jean Michel Nagat
Their disappointment is all the greater because the procedure lasted six years. “It was time for them that the verdict fallsbelieves their lawyer, Me Julia Bouveresse. It is important for their duty of memory.”
The accused “victim”
Sentenced, but free… for the benefit of the ten months he has already spent in pre-trial detention! The accused no doubt benefited from his clean record, before this deadly fight. The experts also specified that the young man was not neither violent nor aggressive. His lawyer, Me Frédéric Beaufils, believes that his client was also a victim in this case.
“Someone without a story can see their life changed overnighthe said. It’s true on the side of the victim, as it’s true on the side of Meddy Lahssen, because people who are looking for a fight, take a dislike to you, you can find yourself in a dramatic situation.”
The Advocate General of the Assize Court, she believed that Meddy had been “the first in the escalation of violence”, that night. She had requested seven years of imprisonment. And according to the penal code, the young man even risked 20 years in prison for these acts of violence resulting in death without the intention of giving it.
The elder brotherKévin Lahssen, who had also participated in the fight, receives for his part, six months suspended prison sentence for violence in meetings.
The soldiers still not judged, six years later
On the evening of the events, six years ago, four people were directly involved in this deadly brawl: the two Lahssen brothers and two Tahitian soldiers. During this trial at the Assizes, the judges discovered, by chance, theabsence of judgment for these two soldiers. Coming to testify at the bar, the two men admitted that their judgment had been returned in 2020. Since, no other summons was not sent to them.
According to the Advocate General of the Court, “their case never reached the Belfort court”. The judges, first surprised by this finding, should probably do what is necessary very quickly to correct this oversight…