Vengeance or self-defense? The assassination of Moroccan Reda Chemssi reconstructed in Liège

The drama unfolded at dawn on July 27th on the very busy Yser square. The 27-year-old victim, who was in the country illegally, had according to the investigation bad associations, repeatedly carrying out snatch-and-grab thefts to survive and apparently finance his drug use.

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Selim, the suspected perpetrator from Sclessin, is currently incarcerated under an arrest warrant for murder. He contests premeditation and evokes a "defensive gesture". His version, partially supported by video surveillance, reports a first altercation around 4 a.m. near the Cathedral Square, where the group of the young Moroccan is said to have violently snatched his watch by trickery.

The thirty-year-old claims to have accidentally crossed paths with his assailants a little later. Annoyed, he would have demanded his property back before taking refuge in his car in the face of the group’s advance. Reda is said to have half-entered through the open window to hit him. To push him back, Selim would have seized his multi-function knife, fatally striking the young man in the heart.

As Sudinfo points out, the reconstruction of the facts had to be carried out at night, ending at 5 a.m. before the resumption of bus traffic. A former accomplice of the victim, witness to his death and recently incarcerated for the theft of an elderly woman, attended.

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Ruling out a priori the trail of a drug-related settling of scores, the investigators now have to shed full light on this deadly confrontation. From Morocco, Reda’s family hopes to finally understand the exact sequence of events on that tragic night.