The president of the Assize Court of Pas-de-Calais rejected Thursday evening the request to postpone the trial on appeal for robbery of Redoine Faïd, made by the lawyers of the ace of the escape, absent and on strike from hunger.
An appeal trial for the robbery of an armored van in 2011
The president Sylvie Karas decided to maintain this trial, refusing, after several hours of suspension of hearing, the request of the counsels of Faïd, who announced cassation appeals, not suspensive. They consider that the Assize Court of Saint-Omer has no jurisdiction over organized crime cases and that their client is unable to defend himself because of his hunger and thirst strike, which has started to denounce his conditions in solitary confinement "worse than Guantanamo", according to Me Franck Berton.
According to his advice, "the conclusions of the medical expertise (carried out on Wednesday) confirm that Redoine Faïd is not transportable nor in condition to appear". The court withdrew at around 6 p.m. to examine the request for referral, which was opposed by the Advocate General, Jean-Francis Créon. "No one can avail themselves of their own turpitude," he said, accusing Faïd of "being afraid to go before his judges and take responsibility." According to him, the hunger strike is a "maneuver", based on a letter sent by Faïd ten days ago in which he announced to his co-defendants that he was going to "go pale".
The robbery of an armored van in 2011
Faïd, 47, appealed the verdict of the Northern Assize Court which sentenced him in October 2017 to eighteen years in prison. Like four accomplices, he had been found guilty of having attacked with explosiveness an armored van of the company Loomis on a national road of Pas-de-Calais on March 17, 2011, stealing more than two million euros.