The Bastia sentencing court rejected on Thursday the request for a suspension of sentence for medical reasons by Joseph-Thomas known as "Tommy" Recco, the oldest detainee in France at 87 years old, corroborated sources announced.
Joseph-Thomas Recco, sentenced in 1983 to life imprisonment for two triple murders, had already made several requests for early release.
His state of health compatible with detention
The octogenarian, born May 10, 1934 in Propriano and detained at the Borgo penitentiary (Haute-Corse), had formulated a new request for a medical suspension of his sentence "because of his very advanced age and the various diseases from which he suffers. », Explained his advice in the request for suspension of sentence. This was the 21st request for parole rejected by the courts. The sentencing chamber of the Bastia Court of Appeal rejected a previous request in its judgment of July 7, 2020.
The same year, a medical report concluded that his state of health was compatible with his continued detention.
Despite the age of the detainee, justice considers that the risk of recidivism remains present, given the very heavy past of "Tommy" Recco.
"I am not surprised, even if I am disappointed," responded Me Alain Lhote, one of his two lawyers.
“The legal constraints are insurmountable.
Three experts must consider that your state of health is incompatible with detention, which unfortunately is not the case.
"
"A relief" for the families of the victims
His advice is already considering what to do next on a whole different ground: “This decision opens the door to new litigation outside the legal framework in France, with a referral to the European Court of Human Rights. She will assess whether a man can remain in prison for so long without at some point raising the question of the meaning of the sentence. On the side of the civil parties, Me Linda Piperi expressed "relief". “With each new request, the pain is rekindled. The civil parties want Joseph-Thomas Recco to serve his sentence to the end. "
The octogenarian was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1983 by the Var Assize Court in Draguignan for two triple murders that he has always denied: that of three cashiers in a supermarket in Béziers (Hérault) on December 22, 1979, and that of a girl, her father and one of their neighbors, committed in Carqueiranne (Var) on January 18, 1980. In 1962, he had already been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his godfather, his sentence had been commuted to twenty years of criminal imprisonment.
He was released on parole in 1977.
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