A business manager suspected of having ordered the attack on an elected official from Saint-Denis

Europe 1 1:47 p.m., March 16, 2024

A business manager from Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) was arrested this week, suspected of having ordered the attack in the street of a deputy mayor in December which shocked public opinion, and will be judged in June, the prosecution and the city said on Saturday.

Arrested on Wednesday by the police, Mouloud B., 57, will be tried on June 4 and has since been placed under judicial supervision, AFP learned on Saturday, confirming information from Le Parisien.

2,500 euros to hit an elected official

On the evening of December 20, Oriane Filhol, sixth deputy mayor in charge of solidarity, was followed in the street in Saint-Denis by two men as she left a work meeting and beaten.

In a context of a national increase in violence against elected officials, the attack caused an outcry.

In January, three young men from Saint-Denis aged 18 to 22 were arrested and convicted for this attack.

At their trial, they explained that they had been promised 2,500 euros each by a mysterious sponsor to hit a person they did not know.

Video surveillance images from the city show a man, unidentified at the time but now suspected of being Mouloud B., pointing the finger at Oriane Filhol as she leaves her meeting.

The victim believes he recognizes Mouloud B., a city entrepreneur who has been the subject of several profiles in the press for his social commitment.

However, she immediately dismisses this hypothesis because “it seemed really too big”.

“All of this appears completely vague and incomprehensible to us”

But at the beginning of March, the business manager came to sit next to the assistant at a boxing gala to hear from her.

Point blank, his interlocutor tries to justify his absence on the evening of the events at the board of directors of the city's social landlord, from which Oriane Filhol was leaving when she was attacked.

“The moment he sat down next to me, I developed the deep conviction that it was him,” relates Oriane Filhol, who then alerted the police.

After cross-checking, Mouloud B. was arrested Wednesday morning at his home.

“He admits that he was present on the evening of the events at the scene while claiming to be completely unrelated to the attack,” the Bobigny prosecutor’s office told AFP.

The motive for the beating still remains unclear, with the town hall and the victim saying they have no dispute with the contractor.

“All of this appears completely vague and incomprehensible to us,” indicates PS Mayor Mathieu Hanotin, hoping that the June hearing will shed light on this matter.