Two lawyers tried in Paris for having used false documents in the trial of a drug trafficker

The trial of two renowned criminal lawyers opened on Monday January 23 before the Paris Criminal Court, tried for having produced at the end of 2018 before the assizes, false documents favorable to a drug trafficker whom they defended.

Complicity in attempted fraud

My Joseph Cohen-Sabban, 69, and Xavier Nogueras, 42, are regulars in the courtrooms but it is, this time, without their black robes that they took their place in the courtroom to respond in particular to complicity attempted fraud in judgment.

Both contest this accusation, which has caused a stir in the profession.

Read alsoIn Marseille, justice looks into a vast scam of horse meat

They are suspected of having committed this offense in December 2018 during the trial before the Paris Assize Court of the Briton Robert Dawes, which ended with his conviction, which became final, to twenty-two years of criminal imprisonment and 30 million euros in fines.

A suspicious Spanish prescription

Considered one of the biggest drug traffickers in Europe, Robert Dawes, 50, then appeared in the file called "

", born of the seizure of 1.3 tons of cocaine on September 11, 2013 in a plane. 'Air France connecting Caracas to Paris.

At the opening of the proceedings, his lawyers had produced a supposed Spanish order presenting as illegal a capital telephone tapping for the prosecution and provided transcripts of telephone tapping and sound systems aimed at exonerating the accused.

These documents had however been qualified as “

” by the Assize Court and, a few weeks after the verdict, an investigation had been opened in early 2019 into these suspicions of falsification.

Trial until February 7

The investigations led, in February 2022, to the dismissal for trial of the two lawyers - also prosecuted for violation of professional secrecy -, of Robert Dawes, who appears detained, and of Evan Hughes, one of his relatives suspected of being the author of the forgeries.

Residing in Spain, Evan Hughes will however not appear in Paris because he has not "

", said one of his lawyers at the hearing.

"

," quipped the president of the court Isabelle Prevost-Desprez.

This trial is "

", declared to AFP the lawyers of Me Cohen-Sabban before the start of the trial.

hearing.

The trial is due to last until February 7.