A man tried for the aggression of the director Alain Françon

A 33-year-old man has been appearing before the Hérault assizes since Monday for

for having seriously injured French director Alain Françon with a cutter in the throat in March 2021 in Montpellier.

Mohamed Kamel, an Algerian who arrived in France at the age of 11, faces life imprisonment.

The 76-year-old theater man, who was absent on Monday, is expected to come and testify on Tuesday.

The verdict is expected on Wednesday.

Alain Françon, a great lover of Chekhov and defender of contemporary authors, had received a blow from a sharp object, carried from behind while he was walking on March 17, 2021 at the end of the morning in Montpellier, where he had come to animate a training.

He had collapsed in a central street, near the hotel where he was staying.

According to the subsequent examination by the medical examiner, he presented a wound of about ten centimeters in the throat having completely severed the jugular vein.

,” noted the president of the assize court.

The use of surveillance cameras led to the arrest two weeks later of Mohamed Kamel, who a few minutes before the attack had been turned away from the Hérault prefecture, located a stone's throw away, where he had not been able to submit an application for renewal of his residence permit for lack of an appointment.

While in police custody, he ended up admitting having struck the director with a box cutter, who

and insulted him, while denying that he had intended to kill him.

He added that he

.

remarks

underlined by the report of the examining magistrate.

On Monday, Mohamed Kamel explained that these words were in fact a response to a policeman who

during the interrogation.

," assured the accused, already convicted twenty times between 2006 and 2020 for theft, violence and drug trafficking.