A representation of Justice (illustration). – SYSPEO / SIPA
He faces life imprisonment. A Tibetan refugee appears on Monday before the Assize Court of Savoy for a double murder and an attempted murder in the spring of 2017 in Chambéry. A deadline that the accused addresses with a detachment that surprised even the investigators.
When he was filmed by CCTV cameras heading towards the Asian restaurant Le Grand Buffet Royal on May 26, 2017 in the middle of the afternoon, Atsok Drudup Tsang seemed very calm. Less than thirty minutes later, a witness said he saw him leave just as calmly. Between the two, “I was overcome with anger”, was to admit this man of 41 years, son of Tibetan peasants and of Buddhist confession, during his police custody.
In fact, when investigators arrived at the scene, they found blood everywhere, two dead and one injured. A kitchen knife, with a bloody blade 20 centimeters long, will be found nearby. A few days earlier, Atsok Drudup Tsang understood that his partner Karma Tsering Garsa Tsang had a romantic relationship with his childhood friend Dawa Tashi Tsang.
A situation very “frowned upon” by their compatriots, given the old ties of friendship between the two men, reports a witness. Although bearing the same name, the three protagonists are not related, the name Tsang denoting high social extraction in Tibetan. From Nanterre, where he lived in a hostel, Atsok Drudup Tsang takes the train to Chambéry. On the evening of May 25, according to him, he finds his partner who confesses to him the affair.
Premeditation challenged by the Defense
The next day, his friend Dawa Tashi Tsang, who works as a cook in the restaurant where his partner works, confirmed to him the existence of the relationship. A few hours later, arriving at the restaurant, Atsok Drudup Tsang meets the one he still considers his companion, as well as another employee of the restaurant, Kevin Pernet said Rosset. Extremely nervous, he allegedly asked the woman to give him the keys to the stairs leading to the rooms of the employees of the restaurant, where his childhood friend was. The woman refusing, the other employee would have interposed. He was stabbed in the arm. Karma Tsering Garsa Tsang was discovered stabbed in the back, in the parking lot of the establishment located in a commercial area of the city. Dawa Tashi Tsang was found with stab wounds on a bed in the room he occupied.
The qualification of the facts will be contested by the defense, which challenges in particular the premeditation, during the three days of debates, which will be held in the restored calm of the Assize Court of Savoy after the effervescence of the Lelandais trial. For his lawyer Solène Royon, one of the challenges will also be to make the court understand “the totally Buddhist logic” of the accused.
According to judicial sources, Atsok Drudup Tsang seems to place more importance on the punishment of his soul than on the criminal sanction. He showed himself to be detached from the judicial process, without being indifferent. If Atsok Drudup Tsang was found guilty, the expert psychologist who examined him recommends not a psychological follow-up, but rather a spiritual accompaniment, according to her more adapted. The verdict is expected on May 19.