Ten years after a fatal stabbing, the third trial of the alleged murderers of Jérémy Roze opens



The photo of Jérémy Roze, during a march in tribute to the young man killed by a stab in February 2011 in Toulouse. – F. Lancelot / SIPA

  • This Tuesday, the third trial of the alleged murderers of Jérémy Roze, a student stabbed in Toulouse in February 2011, begins before the Assises de la Haute-Garonne.
  • Sentenced at first instance and on appeal in 2017, one of the two co-defendants lodged a successful cassation appeal.
  • A new ordeal for the family of the victim, which demands “firmness” from justice and a “social verdict”.

He was a brilliant pharmacy student returning home after a night out with friends. Ten years ago, on the night of February 26 to 27, 2011, Jérémy Roze, a young man of 27 from Béarn, crossed the road of Hicham Ouakki and Driss Arab in the Saint-Michel district, in Toulouse.

After accosting him to ask for a cigarette, the latter two stabbed him fatally. The first would have boasted in the days that followed to have planted “a Yankee” when they were in the Pink City. Because three weeks later, it was in Limoges where they lived, that the two young people had been arrested by the regional judicial police service.

The family wants a “social verdict”

Sentenced at first instance and on appeal to life imprisonment for Hicham Ouakki, and 20 years imprisonment for Driss Arab, they will be tried again this Tuesday before the Assises of Haute-Garonne during their third trial. A little more than two years ago, the Court of Cassation indeed invalidated the judgment of the Assize Court of Tarn-et-Garonne pronounced in May 2017, for a procedural defect during a hearing. Indeed, the floor should have been given back to the accused before the withdrawal of the court.

A third trial in ten years “and a finding of disconnection between justice and the victims”, deplores Christian Roze, the father of the victim. For this family, this week of hearing is another painful moment to pass. “But we remain determined, our dignity does not prevent us from holding Jeremy to account. Since the last verdict nothing has changed, but this happens ten years later, memories are crumbling, it can erase testimonies, as for the defendants they arrive with another mask at the helm, ”laments this bruised father.

The latter hopes that the first two sentences will be confirmed at the end of the week, “a social verdict, which will firmly prove the disapproval of society”. The verdict is expected Friday.



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