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File – Argentina’s Federico Martin Aramburu, center, runs with the ball during their Rugby World Cup Group D match between Argentina and Georgia, in Lyon, France, on Sept.11, 2007.<\/p>\n
Mark Baker\/AP Photo\/Mark Baker<\/p>\n
Argentin’s captain Pablo Matera, wearing a T-shirt that read in Spanish, “Justice for Fede,” in memory of former rugby player Federico Mart\u00edn Arambur\u00fa, who was murdered in Paris, France on March 19, 2022, prior a rugby test match between Argentina and Australia in Mendoza, Argentina, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026.<\/p>\n
Gustavo Garello\/AP Photo\/Gustavo Garello<\/p>\n
PARIS (AP) \u2014 Four people including two men linked with France\u2019s extreme right stood trial in Paris on Monday over the killing of former Argentina rugby player Federico Mart\u00edn Arambur\u00fa.<\/p>\n
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The trial took place more than four years after Arambur\u00fa was shot dead in March 2022 and a verdict was set for Sept. 25.<\/p>\n
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Lo\u00efk Le Priol, 32, was being prosecuted for murder, while Romain Bouvier, 35, faced charges of attempted murder. They face the possibility of life imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Bouvier and then Le Priol gave their names to the court at shortly after 2:40 p.m. local time at the Palais de Justice. Le Priol accepted responsibility for the fatal shooting but maintained he used his weapon in self-defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever the verdict, I am condemned to bear the weight of this immense tragedy for the rest of my life,” he said. “I will never cease asking his family for forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 42-year-old Arambur\u00fa, who played 22 times for Argentina, was killed when leaving a bar in Paris along with his friend Shaun Hegarty, a former New Zealand rugby player. They were former club teammates at Biarritz and traveled to the capital to attend a Six Nations Championship match.<\/p>\n
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Le Priol\u2019s former girlfriend, 29-year-old Lyson Rochemir, drove Bouvier to the scene of the shooting, and faced a possible life sentence for complicity in attempted murder. She was also present on Monday.<\/p>\n
A fourth defendant faced up to three years in prison for concealing evidence in order to protect one of the shooters.<\/p>\n
Bouvier and Le Priol were banned from seeing each other following their convictions for aggravated assault against a former president of a far-right student association in 2015. As members of the same organization, they said they wanted to humiliate him because he \u201cboasted about having assaulted women.\u201d<\/p>\n
How the shooting happened<\/p>\n
On March 19, 2022, shortly after 5 a.m., the two former rugby players arrived at a bar in Paris\u2019 Latin Quarter, Le Mabillon. They sat at a table next to the one occupied by the far-right activists. Everyone was under the influence of alcohol, the investigation showed.<\/p>\n
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Although the initial conversation appeared cordial, things quickly deteriorated and insults were exchanged. Le Priol allegedly told Arambur\u00fa: \u201cYou\u2019re going to shut up, otherwise I\u2019ll shoot you and then I\u2019ll (expletive) your mother.\u201d The defendants dispute that these words were spoken.<\/p>\n
A fight then broke out. The bar\u2019s bouncer intervened, and at around 6 a.m., the two groups went separate ways. According to witnesses, the two far-right activists were \u201cfurious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together with Le Priol\u2019s former girlfriend, who was driving their Jeep car, they set off in search of the rugby players, according to Le Priol, in order to \u201csort things out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surveillance footage showed the former rugby players walking down the street toward their hotel. Hegarty stopped to get some ice cubes to relieve the injuries he sustained during the fight at the bar.<\/p>\n
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Bouvier was the first to spot them while he was in the Jeep with Rochemir. He fired four shots at Arambur\u00fa, two of which struck and wounded him. Le Priol then arrived running and fired six shots into his back. Four hit him, two of them fatally. The Argentine collapsed into Hegarty\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never intended to kill him or even wound him. I should not have had that loaded weapon in my pocket,\u201d said Bouvier, who admitted firing it. \u201cI always intended to fire at the ground so that I would have time to flee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Military background<\/p>\n
Le Priol and Bouvier admitted firing the shots but deny having any intention to kill. Le Priol described his actions as \u201ca pure reflex,\u201d explaining he \u201cwasn\u2019t himself,\u201d that he \u201cwasn\u2019t there,\u201d and that he \u201cwas in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A former soldier, he served in Mali, Niger and Djibouti, where he allegedly strangled and assaulted a prostitute. He was repatriated to France in 2015 because of a post-traumatic disorder, and his military contract was terminated in 2017 after he was charged with aggravated assault in connection with the October 2015 incident.<\/p>\n
From the very first day, investigators knew who was responsible for Aramburu\u2019s death, as the events were captured by surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n
Rochemir was arrested on the same day, March 19. Le Priol was arrested three days later while attempting to cross the border between Hungary and Ukraine. Bouvier was arrested on Oct. 23, 2022, in Sabl\u00e9-sur-Sarthe, in Western France.<\/p>\n
Playing career in France<\/p>\n
Arambur\u00fa, married and the father of three, settled in the French Basque Country at the end of his career in 2012, having played for Biarritz, Perpignan, Dax and Scotland’s Glasgow.<\/p>\n
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He helped Argentina finish third at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
His mother Cecilia Arambur\u00fa was expected to attend the beginning of the trial on Monday but was unable to due to being unwell. She is likely to be present at a later date.<\/p>\n