2023-09-23 22:30:22
– Rapper MHD sentenced to 12 years of criminal imprisonment
Tried at the assizes for murder, the MHD report was sentenced on Saturday to 12 years of criminal imprisonment.
Published today at 12:30 a.m. Updated 6 minutes ago
Rapper MHD at the start of the trial on September 4.
AFP
From rising star of “afro-trap” to prison: rapper MHD was sentenced on Saturday to 12 years in prison in Paris, where he appeared with eight co-defendants for the murder of a young man in 2018 , as part of a settling of scores between rival gangs. Five of his co-defendants were also sentenced to sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years in prison.
Three other men were acquitted, the court considering that one of them, Wissem E. was not on the scene at the time of the crime, and that for the two others, Saber B. and Moussa K. , she did not have sufficient evidence to convict them. The prosecution had requested 18 years of criminal imprisonment once morest the artist, whose real name is Mohamed Sylla, 13 to 20 years in prison once morest six other defendants, and two acquittals.
10 days to appeal
When the verdict was announced, several women in the audience, relatives of the accused, burst into tears. MHD, for his part, remained stoic, before hugging a crying woman. He was then taken directly to the depot. His lawyers declined to make a statement following the verdict. “Heavy hearing, but a judicial truth emerged despite the law of silence,” reacted Me Juliette Chapelle, lawyer for the family of the victim, Loïc K. Those convicted have 10 days to appeal.
Saturday morning, the rapper proclaimed his innocence one last time, in front of a packed house, before the court retired to deliberate. On the night of July 5 to 6, 2018, Loïc K., a young man aged 23, was deliberately knocked down by a Mercedes in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, then beaten by around ten men and lacerated with blows. knife. He died, lying in his blood, a few dozen minutes following his attackers left. The car was found the next day, set on fire, in a parking lot.
At the heart of the case, a settling of scores between young people from the city of Chaufourniers, nicknamed the red city, from which the accused come, and the neighboring city of Grange aux Belles, located in the 10th and 19th arrondissements. This affair clearly slowed down the career of the artist, pioneer of “afro-trap”, a mixture of hip-hop and African music, revealed in 2015 thanks to a video posted on YouTube which went viral, the starting point for a meteoric rise.
From a pizza deliveryman, in a few months he became a recognized star not only in France but also abroad, where he was noticed by artists like Madonna and Drake. A “success story” put on hold by his arrest and his placement in pre-trial detention – he will remain incarcerated for a year and a half before being released under judicial supervision.
“Law of silence” and “rumor”
In this case, the rapper, who despite his success continued to frequent the city of Chaufourniers between two tours, was implicated by several witnesses who affirmed that he was at the scene of the crime, which he has contested since the beginning. Investigators also establish that the Mercedes set on fire belonged to him and one of the videos of the scene, taken from an apartment, shows an African man with dyed blond hair, wearing a Puma tracksuit. However, at that time, MHD had peroxided hair and was an ambassador for the sportswear brand.
On Friday, his lawyers, Mes Élise Arfi and Antoine Vey, pleaded for acquittal for their client, as had the lawyers of the other accused before them. This case was illustrated, throughout the investigation and then the three weeks of trial, by the “law of silence” to which the accused, but also numerous witnesses, submitted. A large number of them, although summoned, did not appear in court. A law of silence dictated by the “fear of reprisals”, according to several people.
In their pleadings on Thursday and Friday, defense counsel attacked the way the investigations were carried out, criticizing a case “constructed from a rumor” and relying on “lame” elements and missing testimonies according to them of objectivity.
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