Triple assassination in Marseille: Life imprisonment required against four of the five accused, including Amine Oulane and Karim Harrat

“Exemplary sentences”. On Wednesday, the attorneys general requested life imprisonment for four of the five co-accused of a triple homicide committed in December 2020 after four weeks of hearing before the Bouches-du-Rhône Assize Court, in Aix-en-Provence.

On the night of December 28 to 29, Réda Khaldi, Nassim Loubani and Brahim Chabane, big brother of Amine Kessaci, were lured into a murderous ambush near Marseille. Executed, dismembered for one of them, their charred bodies were found in burned cars. A “barbarism taken to the extreme”, recall the attorneys general.

The two magistrates consider Amine Oualane, 32 years old and alleged executive of the DZ Mafia, as the “central core of the criminal group” who is both “recruiter” and “logistician”. One of the two lawyers also found the “single shooter” thesis “convincing”, a role attributed to “Mamine”. In any case, he is presented as “Karim Harrat’s relay” in this file.

The latter, aged 38 and former head of the Marseille network, formerly an expatriate, is designated as the sponsor from the Emirates of this triple “narchomicide” to “get rid of a threat, destabilize a troublesome ally”, against the backdrop of a territorial war. The two sentences were accompanied by a security period of 22 years for the two alleged figures of Marseille trafficking, who deny any involvement in the facts.

The accusation is based in particular on DNA, a marked car, wiretapping or even a conversation on the encrypted Sky ECC messaging system, popular with drug traffickers. Added to this were the damning “revelations” of another accused, a rare occurrence in this type of trial. Zakaria Bensaci has in fact designated Amine Oualane as “the shooter” and Karim Harrat as “the sponsor”, mentioning a sum of 200,000 euros at stake. “I’m not Batman to kill three guys,” replied Amine Oualane, accusing in turn.

Also in the box, Malik Kariba, nicknamed “the butcher”, admitted to having cut up the body of Nassim Loubani and to having hidden parts of it in supermarket bags. Another, Nadjim Mbae, admits to having stolen the vehicle in which Nassim was found. For him, the public prosecutor requested twenty-five years of imprisonment.

“Not surprised” by the requisitions, one of Oualane’s lawyers, lawyer Inès Medioune, denounced “certain erroneous information” presented “as truths of the case”. For Hugues Vigier, one of Karim Harrat's lawyers, the prosecution provided "practically the best weapons for the defense", estimating that "there is no kind of preparation. There is something that is decided in the moment […] And if it is decided in the moment, it is murder and there is no sponsor. »