Thirty years of criminal imprisonment with 20 years of security.
This is the sentence to which Ugo Marchic, a 67-year-old Franco-Italian, was sentenced this Friday by the Assize Court of Essonne which was judging him on appeal.
The same verdict as at first instance.
Ugo Marchic is therefore convicted of the murder of Paul Wolnerman, a French pensioner then aged 70, in April 2012, in the seaside resort of Puerto La Cruz in Venezuela.
After the facts, the alleged murderer went on the run for more than 2 years before being arrested in Rome (Italy) in December 2014.
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But Ugo Marchic could not hear the statement of the verdict since Monday morning, at the start of the trial, he did not appear before the Assize Court of Essonne.
He left the prison of Fresnes (Val-de-Marne) on October 28 after exceeding the deadlines for the renewal of his detention order.
A mistake that made his detention illegal.
He then had to respect strict judicial control, which he did until the opening of his trial.
In the morning, he left the apartment he occupied allée des enfants in Torcy (Seine-et-Marne) but never arrived at the court of Evry-Courcouronnes.
"Like a fish in water in prison"
Calls on his cell phone went unanswered.
Marchic, the slightly bald head, has a versatile physique.
In his past, he lived under false identities, which was the case in Venezuela.
The man is also a regular on the run which makes his tracking complicated.
"If he is arrested, he will die in prison," says a judicial source.
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During his detention, "he was like a fish in water," describes a lawyer who met him between the walls of Fresnes.
He was a translator-interpreter, did workshops, knew everyone, moved around freely.
He is a very affable person ”.
His flight "destroyed the real debate on his guilt"
“His flight is inexplicable and it destroyed the real debate on his guilt and thus made him lose all chances of proving his innocence, reacts this Friday evening Me Julien Dubs, one of his lawyers.
It is a situation that I regret very much.
"
The trial being held until the end, the decision is said to be contradictory since Marchic was regularly summoned before the Assize Court.
This means that if he is arrested he will not be able to oppose this judgment.
The only way out would be the cassation appeal.
“My clients are worried about whether he will one day be arrested,” explains Vincent Ollivier, lawyer for the family of Paul Wolnerman.
But they are also relieved since this verdict puts an end to this affair ”.
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In 2001, he was tried in absentia for having led international drug trafficking and already sentenced to 30 years in prison, a sentence he never served.
Five years earlier, he had been arrested in Venezuela during an operation by OCTRIS (Central Office for the Suppression of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics) in possession of 600 kilos of cocaine.