The trial for the murder in August 2018 of Vanesa Campos, a trans sex worker of Peruvian origin killed during a “punitive expedition” in the Bois de Boulogne, opened before the Paris Assize Court on Tuesday.
The three main defendants are sent back for “organized murder”, a crime that they “formally contest” according to their defenders. Three other defendants are seated at their sides in the box and three appear free.
A “climate of terror”
Vanesa Campos had been killed by a bullet in the thorax, on the night of August 16 to 17, 2018, near her workplace, in a remote and dark corner of the Bois de Boulogne, a crime that had highlighted the attacks recurring experiences suffered by prostitutes on the outskirts of Paris. The investigation quickly focused on a group of young men of Egyptian origin, who took advantage of the passes to rob and assault sex workers and their clients.
To protect themselves from their actions and from the “climate of terror” that this band of thieves had established, prostitutes, including Vanesa Campos, had hired a protector, “Takaré” a month before the murder. The evening of the facts, a dozen young men had gathered in the Bois de Boulogne, to lead there according to the accusation a “punitive expedition”. They had armed themselves with tear gas, a knife, a taser, even branches torn from trees and also had a firearm stolen a week earlier in a policeman’s car while the latter was in with a prostitute.
Vanesa Campos’ mother and sister as civil parties
Several shots were fired and a projectile had fatally struck Vanesa Campos. Mahmoud Kadri, 24, is considered by the prosecution to be the author of the fatal shooting at Vanesa Campos. Karim Ibrahim, 29, and Aymen Dib, 25, are accused of having stabbed and stabbed respectively. Five other men, aged 23 to 27, are on trial for their participation in the punitive expedition. A ninth accused, 34, is appearing for the theft of the weapon of the police officer, civil party at the trial.
Vanesa Campos’ mother and sister, resident in Peru, joined as civil parties, as did six former colleagues and friends of the victim, and their protector “Takaré”. Also civil party, the association for the defense of trans people Acceptess-T had incriminated the 2016 law penalizing the clients of prostitutes, forcing them to practice away from the police and to expose themselves more to attacks. The abolitionist association Le Mouvement du Nid is also a civil party. The trial is scheduled to last until January 28.