Casablanca Court Postpones Hearing in Doctoral Researcher Murder Case

On Tuesday, the Casablanca Court of Appeal postponed the examination of the Badr murder case to February 13, to allow the preparation of the defense and the start of the pleadings. The defense lawyer of the fifth accused requested a provisional release. The defense of the civil party takes a dim view of this request. It insisted that the seriousness of the acts charged to this accused does not allow him to be granted provisional release. The court was to rule on Tuesday evening. The defense of the members of the victim’s family demands the severest penalties against the main accused.

Badr Bouljoihel, a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Science and Technology in Mohammedia, was killed on the night of July 30 in a McDonald’s parking lot in Aïn Diab. In a video circulated on social media, we see individuals inflicting violent blows on the 23-year-old man. One of the attackers, the owner of a large Audi Q8 4x4, gets into his vehicle to crush the young Badr. This horrible crime had shaken Aïn Diab, an upscale neighborhood of Casablanca. The day after the tragedy, the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) announced the arrest by the judicial police of Casablanca, in coordination with their counterparts in Laâyoune, of the main suspect. Four other suspects were later arrested. They are all accused of voluntary manslaughter and criminal conspiracy, as well as qualified theft, attempted premeditated murder and complicity, crimes punishable by the death penalty.