11 men tried in particular for the armed robbery of a goldsmith company whose loot exceeded the million euros. Two main accused, the brothers Sliman and Lahouari Founas, absent from the trial, were sentenced respectively to 21 years and 18 years of imprisonment.
Four of the defendants received lesser sentences and are expected to avoid prison. Two were notably sentenced only for driving without a license, to six months and one year of imprisonment, fully suspended. “The Assize Court was able to fairly apply the criminal law in this totally empty case with regard to my client,” commented Sophiane El Baroudi, lawyer for an accused acquitted for the acts of armed robberies and criminal association. The first is currently serving a five-year prison sentence handed down in Algeria for the same facts. His little brother is on the run and is believed to be in hiding in Algeria, where he was convicted of the same crime in 2011. The gold was never found after the robbery.