The trial for the murder of Federico Martín Aramburu begins

The French Loik Le Priola far-right militant, will be tried on the charge of murder from next Monday until September 25 at the Paris Criminal Court, after having fatally shot the former Argentine rugby international Federico Martín Aramburu (42 years old) after a banal dispute that occurred on March 19, 2022 in the French capital.

Next to him will sit in the dock his close friend Romain Bouvier (35 years old and also close to far-right movements), who is prosecuted for attempted murder and faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment, like Le Priol.

As sources from the family’s legal defense confirmed to EFE, the opening of the judicial process will have the in-person attendance of both the former athlete’s parents, displaced from Argentina, and his widow, María, who lives in the town of Biarritz and with whom the player had three children.

The fateful episode, recorded in the early morning of March 18 to 19, 2022 in full Saint-Germain Boulevard of the French capital, had a profound social impact that crossed the borders of the sporting discipline.

Aramburuwho wore the Argentine national team shirt 22 times and played for clubs such as San Isidro Club, Biarritz Olympique and USAP Perpignan, was with his partner and former New Zealand player that night. Shaun Hegartywith whom he managed several business ventures in Biarritz after retiring from professional rugby.

Both intervened on the terrace of the Mabillon establishment to defend a client – a homeless person, according to various versions – whom Bouvier harshly rebuked when he asked for a cigarette.

The verbal tension degenerated into a physical confrontation in which Aramburu, who also had French nationality, knocked Le Priol to the ground during the struggle.

Minutes after the initial altercation, the two far-right militants returned to the scene aboard their Jeep vehicle motivated by a spirit of revenge.

Although Bouvier first opened fire on Aramburu, it was finally the shots fired by Le Priol – a former soldier already booked by the police – that definitively ended the life of the former South American player.

After committing the crime, Le Priol He fled by car across European borders until, days later, he was located and arrested by the authorities at a border post in Hungary when he tried to head towards Ukraine.