After Saint-Omerby Alice Diop and Anatomy of a fall by Justine Triet, another film by trial talked about this year: The Goldman Trial by Cedric Kahn. But do you know the story of Pierre Goldman
brilliantly retraced in this sensational behind closed doors ?
Did you know ? Cédric Kahn’s sister attended this trial at the time. She thus gave him key elements of this trial, which she knew from the inside.
Pierre Goldman, activist and robber
On December 16, 1969, fire broke out in the pharmacy at 6 boulevard Richard-Lenoir, in Paris. Two pharmacists, Simone Delaunay, 47 years old and Jeanne Aubert, 26 years old, are deceased. A police officer, but also a customer, were wounded.
Four months later, on April 8, 1970, Pierre Goldman
then aged 25, was stopped by the police forces. This political activist far left and former resistance fighter in Latin America having sunk into banditry is then the main suspect of this double murder. Following further investigation, it is also accused of three other armed robberies perpetrated in 1969 and 1970.
If he pleads guilty to the three robberies, Pierre Goldman denies his involvement in this double murder. On December 9, 1974, his trial began before the Paris Assize Court. Confident, Pierre Goldman then appears without a lawyer. Following a long, eventful trialhe will be sentenced to life sentence. A verdict subsequently annulled by the Court of Cassation for procedural defects in the minutes.
A second trial rich in emotion
In 1976, his second trial opens in Amiens. It is then represented by Georges Kiejman And Emile Pollak, two great lawyers. But very quickly, their relationship becomes strained, as Pierre Goldman’s personality is explosive. After seven days of explosive hearings, he will be acquitted of the double murder. However, it will be sentenced to 12 years in prison for the three admitted robberies.
A few months later, Pierre Goldman was released from prison, thanks to sentence reductions and to the pre-trial detention already carried out. Became a writer and journalist for several media including Libération and Le Nouvel Observer, Pierre Goldman leads a calm life. But on September 20, 1979, a few meters from his apartment located in the 13th arrondissement, Pierre Goldman was hit by nine bullets fired in broad daylight by three men. Shortly after, a mysterious group named “Police honor” claimed responsibility for this crime in a letter to AFP. This group had already declared itself responsible for a bombing committed on May 8, 1979 against Maurice Lourdez, responsible for the CGT, but also of theassassination by activist Henri Curiel in 1978.
Are these real police officers or far-right commandos ? Even today, no one knows the identity of these killers, even if heavy suspicion relate to René Resciniti de Says known as “René the elegant”, who died in 2012.
LR