The request for the release of Wojciech Janowski, sentenced to life imprisonment for having ordered the assassination of his mother-in-law, the Monegasque billionaire Hélène Pastor, was rejected, we learned Thursday, December 10 from his lawyer.
To read also: Assassination of Hélène Pastor: the ex-son-in-law of the billionaire asks for her release
After a further postponement of his appeal trial at the beginning of November, he had made this request to the investigating chamber of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, arguing in particular the unreasonable delay in his detention while it is still not judged definitively.
Aged 71, he has been in detention for over six years, recalls his lawyer, Me Jean-Jacques Campana, who announces an appeal in cassation after this refusal.
On May 6, 2014, Hélène Pastor, 77, and Mohamed Darwich, 63, were fatally shot in front of a hospital in Nice where the billionaire had just visited her son Gildo.
In 2018, Wojciech Janowski was sentenced at first instance to life imprisonment after being found guilty of being the instigator of this ambush.
Just after the tragedy, he confessed in police custody to being the organizer of this trap before retracting until the last minute about-face, during his first trial, of his lawyer at the time, Eric Dupond -Moretti.
The latter, who has since become Minister of Justice, had then conceded that his client was indeed the sponsor of the assassination of Pastor, but not that of the driver.
Words again contested nine months later by Wojciech Janowski.
His appeal trial was then interrupted in March by the first confinement.
And in early November, it was postponed again after a request for dismissal from one of the co-accused.
No date for a new appeal trial has yet been set.
