On the first day of his trial before the Assize Court on Monday, the 37 -year -old singer, like throughout the investigation, denied the facts alleged against him and which occurred in a hotel of The capital in October 2016.
by Christophe Ayad
The 37 -year -old star was not wide on Monday, February 20, on the accused bench. Finely cut beard, wisely -capped hair, black sweater and pants, white shirt, popular Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred was dressed like a schoolboy on the first day of his trial before the Paris Assize Court for aggravated rape – by consumption of Alcohol and drugs – and violence on a young woman, Laura P., in October 2016.
Crispe smile hanging on the lips, he, as throughout the investigation, denied the facts after reading the referral order by the president of the court, Frédérique Aline. “I waited for this moment for almost seven years, to say everything you want to hear about this affair that hurt me a lot to me and my loved ones,” he said, in response to the magistrate Who asked him if he always disputed the facts.
If this case took almost seven years to reach a court, it is because it has already been fiercely disputed. The first referral order of 2019 had reclassified the acts in aggravated sexual damage, punishable by the criminal court. Seized by the civil party, the investigating chamber had denied this dismissal in January 2020, ordering a trial at the assizes for rape with violence. Then the case went in cassation in April 2020, where the criminal chamber again referred to the court of appeal which maintained the referral for rape aggravated in March 2021. A new appeal was introduced to the Court of Cassation, but this declared it not eligible, paving the way for a trial at the assizes. The difference is in size because, for this accusation, Saad Lamjarred risks twenty years in prison, as well as five years for violence having accompanied the alleged rape.
The issue of this trial is commensurate with the hearing of Saad Lamjarred, whose clips make millions of views in the Arab world. His popularity is such that the King of Morocco had allocated his lawyer for him for a time, Eric Dupond-Moretti, who has since become Minister of Justice.
Under judicial supervision after seven months in prison and six months of house arrest under electronic bracelet, Saad Lamjarred, 37, appears free. A few meters from him, his alleged victim, Laura P., now 27 years old, cries several times during this first trying day. 2>
radically divergent versions
The Moroccan Song Star and the young Iséroise mounted in Paris to find work crossed on the night of October 25 to 26, 2016, in a club in the Champs-Elysées district. He is there for a concert which he must give three days later to the Palais des Congrès. They don’t know each other but sympathize and like each other. Lamjarred and her friends offer to continue the night elsewhere, she accompanies them. They land in the room of a couple, at the intercontinental hotel.
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