A verdict of “appeasement”.

Ilias Akoudad, murderer of brigadier Éric Masson on a deal point in the heart of Avignon in 2021, was sentenced on Friday March 1 to 30 years of criminal imprisonment.

This sentence, accompanied by a security period of 20 years, is certainly heavy for the accused, aged only 22.

But it is not an “elimination sentence” like life imprisonment would have been, welcomed one of his lawyers, Me Frank Berton.

When the president of the Vaucluse Assize Court announced the sentence, Ilias Akoudad remained frozen in his box, biting his lips so as not to react.

In front of him, a room full of police officers, some with their BAC – anti-crime brigade – vests in a row at the back.

Because this decision was eagerly awaited by the profession, which had been one with the family during the two weeks of hearing.

“Justice has been served”

Marc Masson, the victim's father, himself retired from the police, expressed his satisfaction that the aggravating circumstance of murder of a police officer had been retained, in a brief statement to the press: "Justice has been served, the conviction seems fair to us. Regardless, I remain a father who lost his son. We remain with our sadness, there are no winners, only losers."

Perhaps even this decision is a “verdict of appeasement”, dared Me Berton, without saying whether or not his client will appeal.

Me Élise Arfi, another lawyer for the accused, also welcomed "a good verdict, which allows the police officers to be recognized in their capacity as police officers" and "does not close all the doors" for Ilias Akoudad.

This decision was commented on at the top of the State, with the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, estimating on X that “justice has been done”.

Symbolically, the court therefore does not pronounce the life sentence required by the attorney general, Florence Galtier, who had requested life imprisonment with a security period of 22 years.

Because, for her, Éric Masson, 36 years old, father of two little girls, had been “executed without warning, by an individual drunk with violence, proud of the gesture accomplished”.

“I wanted to look good”

On May 5, 2021, around 6 p.m., Éric Masson was on an ordinary surveillance operation at a deal point in Avignon.

With Romain, a colleague, they are in civilian clothes when they come across Ilias Akoudad, a small-time repeat drug dealer who dropped out of school at 14.

Monday, after almost three years of denials, he finally admitted, in the face of a damning case, to having shot Éric Masson.

But, he firmly assured, he had taken him for a drug dealer.

“I’m an idiot, I wanted to look good.”

During the hearings, the prosecution and the defense engaged in a bitter battle around this crucial point: Did Ilias Akoudad know that Éric Masson was a police officer?

Did the brigadier have his armband on, had he shouted “police”?

The court therefore considered yes, even if President Roger Arata did not detail his motivations.

However, the trial will not have answered one question: why did Ilias Akoudad shoot that day?

At the hearing, the main accused assured that that day, he had not particularly consumed drugs, and that after the shooting, it was "total panic".

The land, “I will never go back there”

The police unions, also present but discreet, facing civil parties who did not want any recovery, were also satisfied on Friday, after the epilogue of a tragedy which had provoked anger in their ranks.

Since then, the law has been strengthened and the murder of a person holding public authority is now punishable by the maximum penalty.

The other two defendants were found guilty of helping the murderer in his escape: Ayoub Abdi, 23, was sentenced to three years in prison with a committal warrant, and Ismaël Boujti, 24, to two years in prison. .

This drama in any case broke up Eric Masson's intervention group, police officers who are now broken, like Romain: "I'm still a police officer, that's what fills my fridge", but the field, "I I'll never go back."

Eric Masson's sister, Fanny, in the drug squad at the time, no longer wants to hear about it, even if she remains a police officer.

Only his brother Jean-Michel remained in an investigation department.

With AFP

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