Two people placed in police custody after the assassination of a figure of banditry on Saturday in Besançon have been released and the alleged perpetrator of the shots is on the run, said Thursday the public prosecutor Étienne Manteaux.
Abdelkader Mesref, 51, was killed on Saturday evening in a quiet district of the Franche-Comté city while sitting in the front passenger seat of a car.
The victim, "
unfavorably known to the police and justice
", had been returned to correctional in January for the racketeering of traders, recalled Étienne Manteaux during a press conference.
The driver of the vehicle, who had stopped the car and called the emergency services after a first shot, had been taken into custody.
He explained to the investigators that he had escorted the victim "
to do a favor
", as well as another person who took a seat in the back.
Suspected fugitive
According to this testimony reported by the prosecutor, it was this person who opened fire on the victim, hit by two bullets, in the shoulder and back, while the car was moving, according to the results of the autopsy.
“
Obviously, the victim was surprised because she was still wearing her seat belt
,” observed the prosecutor.
As for the alleged perpetrator of the shots, he “
has not been found.
He is on the run
”.
The driver "
was unable or unwilling to give any information to identify this person
", he added.
The driver said he transported the victim at the request of a third person who was in turn taken into custody before being released, said Étienne Manteaux.
The prosecutor recalled that the victim had been sentenced three times to five or six years' imprisonment for association with criminals.
She had notably been involved in the release "
of extreme violence
", using a weapon of war, of a detainee who had simulated an injury in order to be transferred to the hospital.
Frequent account settlements
The city of Besançon has been the scene of several violent settling of accounts in recent years in the Planoise district, to the south-west of the city, where rival gangs clash against a backdrop of drug trafficking.
On Monday, a "major police operation" against drug trafficking led to the arrest in this district of 21 people, announced the Zonal Directorate of the Eastern Judicial Police.
This operation was unrelated to the assassination on Saturday, the prosecutor said.
