Update on the investigation into the assassination of Martin Aramburu

• Suspected of being involved in the assassination of former Argentinian rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu, two ultra-right activists were arrested this week, the first overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in Hungary and the second Wednesday in Sarthe.

• Loïk Le Priol, a 27-year-old former soldier and activist in the ultra-right GUD movement, was arrested in Hungary on the border with Ukraine.

  He is suspected of having shot the former player, who died on the spot from his injuries, Saturday morning in Paris.

• The other man, Romain Bouvier, 31, also active on the ultra-right, who also allegedly shot the ex-rugby player, was arrested in the morning in Sablé-sur-Sarthe by the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) of Nantes.

Six days after the death of the former Argentinian rugby player, Federico Martin Aramburu, on Saturday in Paris, the circumstances of his assassination are beginning to become clearer.

The run of two ultra-right activists, suspected of being involved in the tragedy, ended on Wednesday, with their respective arrests.

The first suspect, Loïk Le Priol, a 27-year-old former soldier, was arrested overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in Hungary, near the border with Ukraine.

The next day, it was the turn of the second suspect, Romain Bouvier, 31, to be arrested in the morning in Sablé-sur-Sarthe (Sarthe).

A 24-year-old woman, suspected of having driven a car belonging to Loïk Le Priol on the evening of the events, was indicted for "complicity in murder" and remanded in custody on Tuesday.

The circumstances of the tragedy become clearer

It is around 6 a.m. this Saturday, March 19, when former Argentinian rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu and Shawn Hegarty, also a former international player, are seated at the terrace of Mabillon, on boulevard Saint-Germain, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

A few tables from them, three people, including Loïk Le Priol and Romain Bouvier.

The latter are "accosted by a third person who asks them for something, obviously a coin or a cigarette", explains Me Christophe Cariou-Martin, Shawn Hegarty's lawyer, at

.

But the table refuses and "disrespects him", according to the memories of the former rugby player reported by his lawyer, who evokes mockery and humiliation.

Aramburu and Hegarty – friends and associates in a travel agency in Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) – then challenge the occupants of the table to ask them to stop and “calm down”.

“The tone rises and the bar staff intervene to ease the tensions,” continues the lawyer.

Federico Martin Aramburu and Shawn Hegarty decide to leave the terrace, but "when they pass the table, there is another exchange and a fight breaks out between the two groups, separated by the bouncers of the establishment", says the 'attorney.

The two rugby players end up leaving the scene and heading for their hotel, located “200 or 300 meters further”.

On the way, the two men, "swollen faces", injured in the arch, stop at the Welcome Hotel to ask for ice cream.

It is when leaving the establishment that the situation changes.

A vehicle stops at their height, with three people on board.

Two men, suspected of being Loïk Le Priol and Romain Bouvier, get out of the vehicle.

“At that moment, Shawn Hegarty heard a first salvo of shots, turned around and saw the man he identified as Loïk Le Priol.

Then, there is a second salvo of fire, ”continues Me Cariou-Martin.

Federico Martin Aramburu, 42, died on the spot, a few minutes later, as a result of his injuries.

“Several impacts” of bullets were noted on the spot, confirmed a source close to the investigation to AFP.

But at this point, attorney Shawn Hegarty says he doesn't know if the suspects were both armed.

Arrests as far as the Ukrainian border

Six days after the events, the three people suspected of being involved in the death of Federico Martin Aramburu have therefore all been arrested.

A few hours after the arrest of the one who is suspected of having bought the vehicle, Loïk Le Priol was arrested in Hungary on the border with Ukraine, the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed to

.

In a statement quoted by AFP, the Hungarian police confirmed the arrest of this former soldier at the Zahony border post.

The young man explained that he had "a military background and that he was going to Ukraine to fight," she explained.

Three knives, used by the military, were seized from his car.

Our file on Martin Aramburu

A European arrest warrant had been issued against him earlier in the week.

It is only a matter of days before Loïk Le Priol is handed over to the French authorities – if this is not already the case at the time of reading these lines –, confirmed a close source of the investigation at

.

The second suspect, Romain Bouvier, was arrested on Wednesday morning in Sablé-sur-Sarthe (Sarthe) by the Nantes Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI).

Those close to the ultra-right

The two men are not strangers in the eyes of the justice services.

Starting with Loïk Le Priol.

explained

Wednesday, the 27-year-old is a former soldier and an activist of the Union Defense Group (GUD).

His anchorage to the ultra-right earned him to be "file S" by the General Directorate of Internal Security DGSI, sources familiar with the matter told AFP, confirming information from France 2. The young man must elsewhere to appear, with four other people, on June 1 for "aggravated violence" against Edouard Klein, the former president of the GUD, for an ultra-violent attack that occurred in 2015. Romain Bouvier, meanwhile, is a former student of the Assas University of Paris.

Active in the middle of the ultra-right, the 31-year-old man is also implicated in the violent attack on Edouard Klein, according to StreetPress which devoted a long investigation to him,

It is now up to the investigators of the criminal brigade, in charge of the investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor's office for "assassination", to audition the two men.

Justice

Assassination of Martin Aramburu: Former soldier, figure of the ultra-right… Who is Loïk Le Priol, main suspect arrested in Hungary?

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Assassination of ex-rugby player Aramburu: A suspect indicted for "complicity"

• Far right

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• Assassination

• Federico Martin Aramburu

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