Seventeen and twenty years of imprisonment were claimed on Friday by the prosecution against the two main defendants tried for the death of a young man, in 2019, in the basement of a building in the district of Belleville in Paris.
On November 22, 2019, 21-year-old Eric W. was discovered by police lying on the ground in a garbage room in a Belleville building, partially undressed, with a wound on his head.
He died shortly after paramedics arrived.
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Before the Paris Assize Court, Jean Marengo and Anthony Cilpa, now 26, have been on trial since Tuesday for "kidnapping", "sequestration with torture" and "violence in meetings resulting in death".
A third defendant, Bouyé T., 21, is being prosecuted for "failure to assist a person in danger".
For the Advocate General of the Paris Assize Court, there is no doubt that that evening, it was a “punitive expedition” which was carried out against Eric W. According to him, an “unleashing of violence followed, contrary to statements made Thursday by the two main defendants, who invoke a “fight” that would have gone wrong.
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He asked for 20 years in prison against Jean Marengo, who he said had "the major role", and seventeen years against Anthony Cilpa, regretting that they had "chosen omerta".
Against Bouyé T., the Advocate General asked for four years, two of which are firm.
While he praised the consistency of his statements since the start of the investigation, he stressed that he had seen "live" the "peril" in which the victim was and had "chosen to stay", then to going out with his friends during the evening, without calling for help or sending a third party to reopen the door of the cellar where the young man had found himself stuck.
Given the time already spent in preventive detention, this defendant would not return to prison if this sentence were retained.
The verdict is expected Friday at the end of the day.
