A 24-year-old waiter collapsed under bursts of weapons of war on the night of April 22 to 23, 2019. The so-called “Moonlight shooting” case, a shisha bar in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), begin.
In this case, three years later, five suspects are indicted for "murder in an organized gang" and "participation in a criminal association".
None are imprisoned today.
Three of them have nevertheless been placed under house arrest with an electronic bracelet since July 29, 2022. Only the alleged sponsor of the facts remains behind bars... but for another matter.
On the same day in July, the investigating chamber also granted a request from the lawyers of two of the suspects, Mes Fabian Lahaie and Sami Khankan, by ordering additional information - "rare at this stage", according to one source familiar with the matter – which amounts to considering that the investigation has shortcomings.
During the new investigations requested, the investigators must in particular try to specify the conditions under which two anonymous denunciations took place, the day after the events.
Hearings should soon take place in this context.
The telephone habits of the five protagonists will soon be studied
The alleged sponsor's encrypted phone will also be searched, it would have in fact been "seized" by the police, but in the context of another procedure opened after the shooting.
According to his lawyer, as soon as he was in police custody, the main suspect had also asked the police to "have him opened".
He said he was ready to “give the unlock code”, convinced that there would be proof of his innocence inside.
The telephone habits of the five main protagonists of this file will therefore be studied, in particular those of the night of the events.
All proclaim their innocence and the questioning of some of them based in particular on their proximity to the alleged sponsor, they therefore hope to benefit from these new investigations.
Me Sami Khankan has also filed an appeal in cassation for the requests for additional investigations which were refused to him.
The Nantes lawyer is asking for the original seal of the telephone tapping of his client's home to be returned, in order to understand where the “cuts” in the soundtrack that he has seen come from.
The case is now in the hands of the magistrates of the investigating chamber, and no longer in those of the investigating judge.
