The French police arrested Thursday morning in the Drôme a Belgian septuagenarian sentenced in his country for murder and is on the list of the most wanted fugitives in Belgium, AFP learned from police sources.
Edward Donys, 76, had settled in Montelimar under a false identity for about a month, according to the French police source. The man was under a European arrest warrant issued by Belgium in early October.
In March 2019, he was sentenced by the Court of Appeal of Mons, Belgium, to 25 years' imprisonment for having ordered the murder of Françoise Michaux, according to the Belgian federal police. The 72-year-old retiree was shot in the head and was shot in the chest in October 2013.
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The former companion of Edward Donys, who accused his mother-in-law of having robbed her of her father's inheritance, had asked her to murder her father. To do this, the septuagenarian had appealed to an accomplice, according to the French police source. The accomplice and the ex-companion were sentenced and incarcerated. Edward Donys, a figure of Belgian banditry, had appealed in cassation after his appeal trial and had not been imprisoned. In August, his appeal in cassation was rejected. But in the meantime, the man had disappeared. He was then entered on the list of "Belgium's Most Wanted" since October 11, according to the Belgian federal police, which states that a "pipe has helped accelerate research."
Located in Montélimar, he was placed under surveillance by the French police. On Thursday morning, while he was going to buy a newspaper, the fugitive was arrested by investigators from the National Fugitive Research Brigade.