Overview
- The cour d’assises in Aix-en-Provence opened the long-delayed case but disjoined alleged mastermind Jacques Santoni for medical unfitness after experts deemed him unable to appear.
- Judges granted a closed hearing to shield repentant witness Patrick Giovannoni, who testifies masked and facing away from the room, with prosecutors warning of grave security risks if he were identifiable.
- Defense lawyers and several civil parties opposed the huis clos and had pressed to keep Santoni in the dock, arguing the separation undermines a complete reckoning in the case.
- André Bacchiolelli is on trial as the suspected gunman in the 2012 killing and in a linked attempted murder, while the court rejected efforts to halt proceedings in Santoni’s absence.
- Fugitive Mickaël Ettori will be tried in absentia, as prosecutors outline a feud between the Petit Bar gang and the Orsoni clan as motive, with hearings scheduled to run through mid-December.