Man Sentenced to 25 Years for Racially Motivated Murder in Northern France

During the three-day hearing, Ludovic Ladrière confessed, acknowledging that he had fired more than once on Karim El Barni, but, he said, accidentally, reports La Voix du Nord. For the public prosecutor, Laetitia Hernandez, this version of the facts is "unlikely" if one considers the report of the ballistics expert who explains that a pressure of at least two kilos on the trigger was necessary to trigger the shot.

The public prosecutor’s representative rather evokes a crime committed on the basis of racism, especially since the accused had declared having fired on a "bougnoule" and kicked the victim’s body. Worse, he had sent photos of the corpse to some of his contacts on Facebook who, after investigation, are linked to xenophobic groups.

The sentence of 25 years of criminal detention imposed on Ludovic Ladrière is, "outside cases of terrorism", "the heaviest sentence ever pronounced in France for a racist crime," stressed Guillaume Traynard, lawyer for SOS racisme.