Woman burned alive in Mérignac: A look back at the feminicide that caused a wave of indignation – 20 minutes
This Friday, Mounir Boutaa, the violent and repeat offender husband accused of having set his wife on fire Tuesday in Mérignac was indicted for voluntary homicide on a spouse and placed in pre-trial detention, announced the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office. He was indicted for “counts of intentional homicide by spouse, willful destruction by fire, willful violence without ITT with a weapon in legal recidivism”, a last point linked to the fact that he threatened a neighbor who was trying to rescue to the victim.
The 44-year-old man pursued his wife Chahinez, a mother of three, whom he had been watching since the morning. He shot her several times in the legs, then sprayed her with flammable liquid while she was still alive and set her on fire. The suspect then set fire to the home of the 31-year-old victim.
An orderly inspection mission
The Ministries of Justice and the Interior have launched an inspection mission which will notably study the conditions of release and the follow-up of the man who was serving a suspended prison sentence. Mounir Boutaa, with dual Franco-Algerian nationality, was sentenced on June 25, 2020 in Bordeaux to 18 months in prison, nine of which were suspended for “willful violence by a spouse” in recidivism, on his wife.
In mid-March, Chahinez had filed a complaint against her husband for a new assault. But the man, wanted by the police, had remained “nowhere to be found”.