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The former gardener was charged with the famous inscription “Omar killed me” and fought for justice and innocence for more than 20 years. Authorizing a retrial of his case on Thursday may trigger a review of the trial.
Will justice go backwards in the Omar Ladade case? 27 years after the former Moroccan gardener was convicted of murdering the rich widow Ghislaine Marchal, the judiciary decided to retry the case on Thursday, December 16. This is the first step in the possible revision of the trial, as we learned from judicial sources.
The source said that Omar Raddad (Omar Raddad) received a request for review, and the investigation committee ordered more information.
“This decision is a step towards correction,” Omar Radad’s lawyer Silvi Nojovic told reporters. “The battle is not over yet,” she said.
The former gardener had blood stains of the victim at the scene of the crime with the inscription “Omar killed me” engraved on it. The request for review in 2002 was rejected for the first time.
Still guilty
His new request is based on advances in DNA science and a law passed in June 2014 that relaxes trial review standards, which is one of the most mysterious and controversial criminal cases in France.
>> Reading: Omar Raddad incident, a French story
These are “evidence questioning the guilt of Omar Radad”, assure me before making a decision.
Omar Raddad was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1994. He could not appeal at the time. He received a partial pardon from President Jacques Chirac and was released conditionally in 1998. This pardon does not constitute an abolition of the conviction, nor does it acquit him.
Agence France-Presse