Omar Raddad Case: Supporters Rally for Retrial Decades After Controversial Murder Conviction

As early as 2010, Omar Raddad proclaimed: "I was pardoned but I was not acquitted. I want to be rehabilitated," in a statement made to the Journal du Dimanche. Accused of the murder of Ghislaine Marchal in 1991, he was convicted three years later to 18 years in prison. His release on bail took place in 1998, following a partial pardon by former French President Jacques Chirac at the request of King Hassan II. Pardoned but still guilty, therefore, in the eyes of justice.

According to Najwa Haité, spokesperson for the Dynamic Maroc association, quoted by Telquel: "Our mobilization (EDITOR’S NOTE: on March 12) was mainly aimed at demanding the results of the DNA analyses and asking that justice be impartial".

It is new biological DNA analyzes that could exonerate Omar Raddad that are behind this request for a retrial. But the Nice prosecutor, Jean-Michel Prêtre, explains them differently: "As long as it is not possible to say whether the DNA traces found on the objects are prior, concomitant or subsequent to the facts, their search will prove nothing. These are objects that, since the time of the facts, and it’s starting to date, have been handled by several dozens of people including at the hearing where we saw Me Vergès redrawing with his finger on the letters of ’Omar killed me’". For him, "we cannot go any further".

And this is what prompted Dynamic Maroc to "insist". According to El Haité: "This statement surprised us. Maître Vergès had denied having put his hands on the phrase written in the victim’s blood, because the item was under seal". According to the latter: "The prosecutor’s statement is not normal," stressing in this sense, among other things, that Prêtre is no longer in charge of the case and that the new prosecutor has accepted the charges of Omar Raddad’s lawyer.