Extortion attempt in Paris: release required for Marc Hornec, figure of organized crime

He even pays himself the luxury of playing the good princes.

While the president of the Paris court asks him if he has a last word to say, Marc Hornec, 56, advances this Tuesday afternoon with a quiet step to the bar.

"I'm not asking for anything for the eight months I spent in solitary confinement," he says wearily.

I want to be left alone and forget about all this”.

Like a final snub to six years of instruction ending, for the prosecution, in blood sausage.

According to investigators from the judicial police of Seine-Saint-Denis, Marc Hornec, presented to him and his older brothers Mario and Jean-Claude as figures of organized crime in Paris, had participated in May 2016 in a lunch in Paris during which an SME manager had been ordered to repay 550,000 euros to a creditor.

“Better to pay than to end up in a safe”, we would have threatened the boss.

Even the public prosecutor pointed out an error in an incriminating element

But during the trial, which lasted a little over a week, the prosecution acknowledged that there was no evidence to prosecute "the fairground" for the attempted extortion.

On Monday, the prosecutor therefore requested a release from him, believing that the police had investigated with a “Marc Hornec prism” by trying “to bring him into the file”.

The Stations of the Cross began from day one for the prosecution.

The victim had indeed certified at the bar, not to have seen "the fairground" during this famous lunch.

“When I was shown his photo I found that he looked like Gérard Depardieu, explained the business manager.

I would have remembered if he had been present”.

It was just a start.

"The other defendants [they were nine in total and releases were also required for them, editor's note] hastened to clear the main defendant before even thinking of defending themselves", was surprised an observer during of the trial.

Even the public prosecutor contributed to weakening the accusation by demonstrating that the only incriminating element concerning another defendant (a story of mobile telephones) was based on an error.

A rather rare “intellectual probity” which was hailed as such by defense lawyers.

"All that for that", according to David Cazeneuve, lawyer for Marc Hornec

“All that for that,” sighed David Cazeneuve.

According to Marc Hornec's lawyer, the investigators "tried everything" to have his client convicted, "the only common thread in this file".

“In defence, we often speak of judicial harassment, he smiled.

But when we cry wolf, sometimes there really is a wolf”.

“An ordinary man can cast a huge shadow.

It all depends on the light we put on him.

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The public prosecutor does not, however, abandon all the proceedings against Marc Hornec.

For repeat money laundering (nearly 150,000 euros worth of jewelry and watches had been seized during a search at "the fairground"), he demanded two years in prison, a fine of 150,000 euros and the confiscation of property. ".

Again for David Cazeneuve, Marc Hornec's lawyer, this accusation has "crusade coloring".

Judgment has been reserved for February 14.