two men sentenced on appeal to 14 years and 17 years in prison

Two men were sentenced Thursday on appeal to 17 years and 14 years of criminal imprisonment by the Assize Court of Val-de-Marne for the murder of Vanesa Campos. This transgender sex worker was shot dead in August 2018 in the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris. This is a significantly reduced sentence compared to the verdict pronounced at first instance: Mahmoud Kadri, 25, and Karim Ibrahim, 30, had been sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment by the Paris Assize Court, in January 2022.

“By reducing our client’s sentence by eight years, the court has, after calm debates, restored the fair role of his participation in this case”, said the lawyers of Karim Ibrahim, Julien Fresnault and Fares Aidel, at the end of the trial. These two men appeared on appeal alongside three others, accused of criminal association and the theft of the murder weapon. One was acquitted, the other two are sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, one of which is suspended, and five years, two of which are suspended.

A punitive expedition

Advocate General Olivier Auféril had demanded on Tuesday 20 years against Mahmoud Kadri, 25, for murder in an organized gang and aggravated theft, and 15 years against Karim Ibrahim, 30, for complicity in murder in an organized gang. “In this case, there is the shooter who pulls the trigger and the one I consider to be an accomplice who created the conditions for the fatal gesture to happen”he had estimated.

On the evening of the crime, Mahmoud Kadri and Karim Ibrahim had found themselves in the Bois de Boulogne with a dozen other young men to confront the “protectors” hired by South American transgender prostitutes, targets for years of Egyptian thieves who robbed their customers. Vanesa Campos, 36, was killed during this punitive expedition on the night of August 16 to 17, 2018, in a remote place in the Bois de Boulogne where she had been practicing for two years.