Ruptured water pipe suspends trial of Georgian godfather

Police officers in front of the Monclar Palace in Aix-en-Provence -

The appeal trial of a Georgian considered to be a figure of "Vory v zakone", a "godfather" of the post-Soviet space, was suspended Thursday in Aix-en-Provence after the rupture of a pipeline of water located above the assize court.

"We thought of everything in this period, but not the bursting of a pipe," commented the president of the court François Guyon, announcing that the hearing would be suspended until Monday.

The hall of the Assize Court of the Monclar Palace had to be evacuated for security reasons, its entrance being flooded.

Sentenced to life imprisonment

This suspension came on the second day of a trial scheduled until December 11, when the director of the investigation into the murder of a member of a rival clan of "Thieves in the Law" in March 2010 in Marseille had just started his spontaneous testimony.

Kakhaber Shushanashvili, 48, is retried after being sentenced on December 20, 2019 to life imprisonment for the murder of Vladimir Janashia.

He is suspected of having organized, from Spain where he resided, this assassination and an attempt committed a month earlier in Nice during a shooting in an apartment where the victim was supposed to be.

"Of course I challenge", simply retorted Kakhaber Shushanashvili, questioned Wednesday evening by the president.

Toulouse

Haute-Garonne: After the rupture of a pipeline, nearly 40,000 inhabitants in a dry state

Miscellaneous

Rennes: Called for a water leak, firefighters discover a lifeless body

• Georgia

• Water

• Aix en Provence

• Court