Razia Askari was killed in the middle of the street in Besançon in 2018: beaten and hunted down by her husband to death, her futile attempt to escape her was Wednesday December 8 at the heart of the first day of the trial of this violent man.
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Rashid Askari, 41, is on trial for “
murder
” by the Doubs Assize Court, which will deliver its verdict on Friday. He admits having killed his wife, but denies having premeditated his gesture. "
In France, she never ceased to flee this husband who was tracking her, to impose on him the domination that an Afghan man has over his wife and the submission that an Afghan woman owes to her husband,
" said an investigator from the judicial police before the court.
Razia Askari, 34, described by her relatives as "
happy
", "
fighter
" and wanting the best for her children, arrived in France in 2017 to join her husband.
But very quickly, settled in the south of the country, she denounces his violence, tries to leave him and escape him.
She will thus file seven complaints in Marseille and Besançon, for rape, repeated death threats, willful violence against a spouse and her children.
In them, she claims to be the victim of domestic violence since their marriage, 14 years earlier.
Children who witness violence
“
Children were nearby sometimes, for death threats, sexual violence. They were witnesses when he threatened their mother with a knife,
”testified the social worker of the Solidarity Women association, Lila Atil, who listed the abuse suffered by the young woman she accompanied and by her children. Her husband will be placed in police custody twice: in Marseille where he is released, the prosecution judging the facts "
insufficiently characterized
", then in Besançon where no judicial decision had yet been taken on the day of the facts.
After filing for divorce, Razia obtained in July 2018 a protection order issued by a family court judge, forbidding her husband to approach her. He had nevertheless found his trace, thanks to a letter sent by health insurance to their Marseille home and mentioning the address of Besançon where she had found refuge with her children, supported by the association for the fight against violence made to women Solidarity women. According to several relatives, Razia was "
terrified
" by her husband who threatened to "
kill her with a knife
", "
slaughter her
" or "
disfigure her with acid
". She lived knowing that he "
could kill her
". "
He continued to harass her.
He followed her in the street, in transport and threatened her with death so that she could resume living together
, ”analyzes the investigator.
"
He did not accept that his wife did not want him any more, especially since it deprived him of his children
."
He has "lost control"
Knowing how to be "
nice
", "
quiet
", even "
charming
", according to his knowledge, the forty-something had rallied the Afghan community of Besançon to his cause.
For his lawyer Me Randall Schwerdorffer, “
Rashid Askari has been stripped of his rights as a father
”.
While he had the "
right to see his children, his wife forbade him
", according to him.
The accused said that the fact that he had not seen his children for some time had "
got over him
", that he had "
lost control
".
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Rashid Askari had threatened to cut his wife's throat and kill her with a knife: he finally stabbed her with about twenty very violent stab wounds, including a fatal blow of 10 centimeters to the neck which cut her jugular vein.
For Lila Atil, “
we did everything, everything to put an end to this unacceptable violence.
All of us weren't successful.
We were confronted with our human and social limits
”.
“
She said he was going to cut her throat.
We shouted this danger into the void, but no one listened to it,
”regretted the former interpreter of Razia.
