“The supervisors who see me, they see the case of the police officer Eric Masson”: in Avignon, an accused with a chaotic journey

Me Frank Berton, in defense of Ilias Akoudad with Me Elise Arfi. FREE NOON – François Barrère

Ilias Akoudad, 22, denies killing the 36-year-old police officer with two bullets on May 5, 2021, in a street in downtown Avignon. He faces life imprisonment. 

"I dispute the facts with which I am accused. I stand by my statements."At the opening of his trial before the Vaucluse Assize Court, where he faces life imprisonment, Ilias Akoudad, 22, repeats in a clear voice what # 39;he has been saying for almost three years: it was not him who killed brigadier Eric Masson, 36 years old, father of two little girls, late afternoon, May 5, 2021 in the center of Avignon.

"A purely criminal motivation ?"

"I'm accused of homicide, a police officer, apparently, but it’s not me. One person says it's me, it was a colleague, but now it's not anymore a- he explained, calmly, to the psychiatrist, who did not detect any mental illness in him. "If the facts are accepted, this would be a purely criminal motivation" adds Doctor Bottai.

"There is a police officer who was killed. I'm waiting for justice to see that I'm innocent" he told the psychologist. "Je don't know what this gentleman's family thinks of me, it's sad, what happened.&quot ;

A slender young man in Lacoste jogging pants

At the time, this slender young man with a pleasant face, a thin mustache and always dressed in Lacoste jogging pants was barely 19 years old, and was not seen as a hardened delinquent and violent. But like a young man adrift, busy in small-scale drug trafficking, after a difficult youth at home and at school.

Parents who separate very early because of the father's violence, a mother who has a series of psychiatric hospitalizations, trips back and forth between the parental homes, from Carpentras to Avignon,&nbsp ;a passage through three host families in one year. "Pas miserabilism, that's not why we're found necessarily in a box in the criminal court" notes his lawyer, Me Frank Berton, who summarizes: "He falls into drugs at 15, he left middle school in the third year without any professional background" adds the lawyer.

A father in hypercontrol

"He was not in need of help and support, his family always mobilized" nuance l&# 39;personality investigator, who recounts her father's efforts to try to prevent his son from going down the wrong path. "He was in the' 39;hypercontrol, by inspecting his pockets, he was able to bring to the police station and ask to be placed in police custody his son who was a lookout for local adults and had money on him. He said he sounded all the alarm bells, believing that his son was in danger."

Between the ages of 15 and 19, he was convicted six times, for possession and sale of drugs, and for violent theft. &quot ;It was January 2020, four months before your incarceration."

A strange detachment

"I have no memory of it, Mr. President" replies Ilias Akoudad, who does not& ;#39;does not look impressed. "I'm sorry Mr. President, I do not wish to speak today. " On his life journey, he has nothing more to say either. "I find that the&rsquo The personality survey was very well carried out, overall. em>