The silhouette of a body roughly traced in orange paint on the asphalt of a street;
at the site of the head and thorax, at the edge of the sidewalk, a shovelful of sawdust to absorb the spilled blood;
bouquets of flowers left at the crime scene.
The photograph was widely distributed by the media.
On May 5, 2021 around 6:30 p.m., rue du Râteau in Avignon, Éric Masson, 36, police officer and father, was killed by three bullets at a deal point.
The trial of the man whom the prosecution considers to be the murderer of the official and two associates who answer for related offenses, opens this Monday before the Vaucluse Assize Court.
The main accused, Ilias Akoudad, defended by Messrs Frank Berton and Élise Arfi, denies having shot the police officer, affirming that he was not on the scene, a well-known point of deal, at the time of the events.
He never varied on this point.
And this, despite a host of clues which overwhelm him.
He is implicated by several anonymous informers who "outed" him, but also by one of his two co-defendants, Ayoub Abdi, alias "Ababou", who affirms that he was present at his side when the victim , accompanied by several colleagues, carried out a check after overhearing a transaction of cannabis resin.
Several witnesses, therefore, who formally identify him – he has partially bleached hair – and reveal to investigators that Mr. Akoudad, born June 19, 2001 in Carpentras, small-time dealer convicted six times when he was a minor for consumption or sale of narcotics and violence, is known by the nickname
“the Excellent”.
Which the person concerned refutes before conceding that he was sometimes called that but that he did not like it.
Plan to escape to Spain
More embarrassing: it emerged from the investigations that a cell phone that he used, although he also denied it before admitting to having been the owner, was located in the area of the crime at the moment he was clerk.
Furthermore, analyzes of clothing found at the home of his mother, where he lived, revealed the presence of gunshot residue.
From the evening of May 5, 2021, the accused holed up with his friend Ayoub Abdi, eleven times convicted for narcotics cases, in an out-of-the-way premises belonging to a man named Ismaël Boujti.
The latter, convicted nine times for selling drugs and, at the beginning of 2023, aggravated theft, neither participated in nor even witnessed the murder of Éric Masson.
He claims to have been unaware that the two individuals he was hosting could be involved to varying degrees in the murder.
MM.
Akoudad and Abdi planned to flee to Spain in the vehicle of another man they had paid.
The latter is not being prosecuted – there is no proof that he knew why, in reality, his passengers wanted to get away from Avignon.
The trio was arrested on May 9 on the A9 at the Remoulins tollbooth (Gard).
In the meantime, the mother of “the Excellent” had participated in a march in tribute to the civil servant killed on rue du Râteau.
A crucial element will have to be elucidated by the court and the jury if they find Ilias Akoudad guilty: did he know that Éric Masson was a police officer when he opened fire?
If so, this aggravating circumstance would increase the penalty from 30 years of criminal imprisonment to life imprisonment, potentially accompanied by a security period of 30 years (article 221-3 of the Penal Code).
We must therefore expect a heated debate on whether or not Mr. Masson had in his hand his orange armband marked with the word “Police” in black letters.
This point appears not to have been clearly established by the instruction.
But, for the public prosecutor, who intends to convince the judges that the armband was visible, there is no doubt that, when the accused fired in the direction of one of Éric Masson's teammates after the latter had been mortally wounded, this targeted official, Romain R., had clearly shouted
“Police!
"
at many times.
For this reason, Ilias Akouda is also responsible for attempted murder of a person holding public authority, a second crime punishable by life imprisonment.
Verdict expected on February 29.