Three men will be tried from Tuesday, September 27 by the Paris Assize Court, almost three years after the death of a young man kidnapped and tortured in the basement of a building in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
The 21-year-old victim, Eric W., born in Côte d'Ivoire and arrived in France at the age of 10, worked as a facilitator in an elementary school.
Two of the men on trial, Jean Marengo and Anthony Cilpa, 26, are charged with "
abduction with torture
" and "
violence in a meeting resulting in death
", and risk life imprisonment.
The third, Bouyé T., aged 21, is accused of "
non-assistance to a person in danger
".
He faces five years in prison.
On November 22, 2019, Eric W. was discovered by the police lying on the ground in a garbage room in the Belleville district of Paris.
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Presenting a wound on the level of the head and partially undressed, the young man, still conscious, had told the police that he had come to the residence to see a friend before being taken by force to the basement by three people .
Taken care of by the emergency services, he then lost consciousness before dying despite the care provided by the firefighters.
An autopsy confirmed that he had died from beatings during his confinement and that earlier intervention could have prevented his death.
"Acknowledges His Presence"
According to the prosecution, Eric W. was beaten, kicked and shoveled by Jean Marengo and Anthony Cilpa.
He was also reportedly subjected to multiple physical abuse.
His two alleged attackers had initially fled abroad, before being arrested respectively in the Yvelines in March 2020 and in Switzerland in May 2020. Anthony Cilpa "
does not dispute his participation in the facts
", indicated to the AFP his lawyer, Philippe Sarda, adding that the hearing would clarify the role of the two attackers.
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The third person on the scene, Bouyé T., would not have taken part in the violence.
He would have accompanied his elders to "
watch
" and would have stayed "out
of fear
", after asking them to stop, according to the elements of the investigation.
"
He recognizes his presence, but he had no idea
" that the victim's condition "
was so serious
", explained his lawyer, Olivia Ronen, to AFP.
The defendants evoked a debt against the background of drug trafficking to explain the attack, without agreeing on the owner of the money claimed.
Relatives of Eric W. testified that he bore signs of beatings in the days preceding his death.
The trial is due to last until Friday.