Former fugitive Thierry Ascione, 65, was sentenced Friday to 18 years of criminal imprisonment by the Paris Assize Court, which found him guilty of complicity in assassinations and fraud for acts committed there is over thirty years old in Guatemala. The court went beyond the requisitions of the prosecution, which had requested a sentence of fifteen years of imprisonment against the ex-fugitive.
Sentenced in his absence to life imprisonment in June 2021 for complicity in the assassination of a couple of French restaurateurs in Guatemala in December 1991, Thierry Ascione remained on the run from 2000 to 2021.
Thierry Ascione “took an active part” according to justice, in the preparation of the assassination of Bernard Béréaud and Marie-Antoinette Perriard, owners of two renowned restaurants in the capital of Guatemala on the night of December 27 to 28, 1991. The accused has always denied having been involved in this crime which he attributes to revenge by drug traffickers.
A check for 80,000 euros after the double assassination
During the hearing, on the other hand, he admitted to having cashed, a few days after the double homicide, a check for $80,000 on an account of Bernard Béréaud in a Miami bank.
Arrested for the first time in Thailand in May 1995 while in possession of an American passport stolen from a tourist in Vietnam, he was extradited to France in September 1995 where he was indicted and imprisoned.
After nearly five years of pre-trial detention, he was released while awaiting his trial but took the opportunity to show off, beginning a run of more than 20 years. He was arrested by chance in Indonesia in October 2021 after damage to his sailboat.