Marrakech Café Murder Trial Delayed: Dutch Suspects Face Death Penalty

The case, recalls the daily Al Massae, dates back to November 2017. A medical student who was sitting at a table with his friends on the terrace of the café, had been shot dead, two of his friends wounded during this shooting. In the first instance, the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal had sentenced the two main defendants, the Dutch Edwin Gabriel Robles and Shardiyone Girigorio, to the death penalty.

As for the owner of the café, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His brother, on the other hand, was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The other defendants were sentenced to sentences ranging from 3 months suspended to 20 years in prison. The Court also ordered the payment of 1,400,000 dirhams in damages to each of the parents of the young murdered doctor.

Thus, a court order allowed the customs administration to seize all the property of the owner of the café where the shooting took place. These are three upscale villas located in the chic neighborhoods of Marrakech, two luxury apartments in Casablanca and Tangier, as well as shares in three companies valued at tens of millions of dirhams.

In addition, the investigating judge at the Marrakech Court of Appeal had ordered the seizure of 6 luxury cars belonging to the same defendant. The total value of these cars, four of which were custom-made and one gold-plated, amounts to 15 million dirhams. The investigation revealed that this shooting was related to a settling of scores between drug traffickers operating in Morocco and the Netherlands.