Moroccan Man Faces Retrial in Brutal Murder Case, Accuses Lawyers of Silencing Him

During his interrogation by President Mélot on Monday, Omar Ettaleb accused his former lawyers of having put in place a strategy to prevent him from cooperating. He had fled and had been sentenced to life in prison in October 2023 by default for the murder of Ilyas Kosker. "It was not going well at all in terms of my defense, I did not agree with the strategy put in place by my former lawyers. It was painful to listen to certain things and not to be able to express myself freely. I felt alone in the world. I wanted to cooperate, but we were not on the same wavelength with my lawyers. I was really very uncomfortable. I was present, but I was unable to explain how the events unfolded. From the beginning, the strategy was to remain silent and not cooperate," the accused explained.

The facts for which Omar is being retried took place on the night of June 28 to 29, 2019. The Moroccan had taken Ilyas Kosker, 44, for a ride in a car. The two men were in business for the sale of a VW Golf vehicle. Shortly afterwards, Ilyas Kosker received two bullets in the back and died on the spot. His body had then been sprayed with gasoline, set on fire before being transported by car to Visé to be buried. Without success. The body had finally been taken to the woods of Amonines. According to the investigation, the head had revealed a point-blank shot to the back of the skull and a frontal shot with a 9mm caliber bullet.

At the stand, the thirty-year-old denies having participated in a scene filmed during which the weapon was tested eight days before the disappearance of Ilyas Kösker, reports La Dernière Heure. According to him, the investigators abused their power and encouraged certain witnesses to go along with their version. He also rejected the allegations of certain witnesses or protagonists in the case, according to which he bought a weapon and had it in his hands. He also denies having had the project of assaulting Ilyas Kösker for a debt of money. The accused delivers a new version. He explains that the case began because of an Audi Q5 stolen by Zakaria El Bouraqui: "I was not interested in this car, but Ilyas was. I stood surety for him. But the car parked in a residential area had disappeared the next day. Ilyas accused Zakaria, in return Zakaria accused Ilyas. Zakaria wanted his money and became arrogant."

According to Omar, an agreement had been reached between him and Ilyas Kösker on the sale of an Audi A6 and Sami G. was to set off firecrackers to distract him in order to take money from him in a bag substitution. The accused claims not to have witnessed the scene that cost the Liège resident his life. "I didn’t understand what happened. Ilyas collapsed to the ground. Zakaria shot him in the head," he said.