Marrakech Café Shooting: Key Suspect Acquitted in High-Profile Case

Considered as "the coordinator" of this shooting that occurred in November 2017 in the "La Crème" café, Seddik Rais has just been cleared by the Moroccan justice system. Extradited to Morocco in 2019 while serving a sentence for cocaine trafficking in a prison in Palma (Canary Islands), he was acquitted by the Marrakech Court of Appeal, which considered that his "friendly relationship" with one of the two sponsors of the crime, S. D., was not enough to implicate him, reports the daily Al Akhbar.

To read: Suspect Arrested in Nador Linked to Marrakech Café Shooting Investigation

The accused, who has always proclaimed his innocence throughout the trial, was prosecuted on charges of "complicity in premeditated homicide, complicity in attempted premeditated murder, membership of an organized criminal gang, concealment of things originating from a crime knowing the circumstances of its commission". He was one of the 20 people arrested as part of this shooting case that caused the death of a young medical student.

To read: Moroccan Mafia Leaders Implicated in Marrakech Café Shooting Trial

The investigation revealed that it was a settling of scores between drug traffickers active between Morocco and the Netherlands. Two Dutchmen, Robles Martinez and Gregoria Semeril, considered the perpetrators of this crime, were sentenced to death. As for the café owner, Mustapha El Fechtali, and his brother, Mohammed, they were sentenced to 15 and 8 years in prison respectively.