The Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened a “mirror” investigation to that of the Moroccan prosecutor’s office into the death of two vacationers killed by the Algerian coast guard.
A “mirror” investigation to the investigation of a Moroccan prosecutor’s office to determine the circumstances of the death of two vacationers, including a Franco-Moroccan, killed by shots attributed to the Algerian coast guard, was opened in France, indicated Monday the Paris prosecutor’s office.
This investigation, pending the Moroccan investigation, was opened for intentional homicide and entrusted to the criminal brigade of the Paris judicial police, said the prosecution. In particular, it must make it possible to have a legal framework for collecting elements.
A complaint filed in France
For their part, lawyers for the families of the two victims announced on Sunday the filing of a complaint in Paris for “aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, hijacking of a ship and failure to assist a person in danger”. It should be filed on Tuesday, one of the lawyers, Maître Hakim Chergui, told AFP.
According to the testimony of a 33-year-old Franco-Moroccan, Mohamed Kissi, four vacationers, including himself, got lost at sea during a jet-ski trip on August 29. Leaving from the beach of Saïdia (northeast of Morocco), on the border with Algeria, they were joined by an Algerian coast guard boat, which fired on them, he said.
His brother Bilal Kissi, a 29-year-old Franco-Moroccan trader and father of two young children, and his cousin Abdelali Mechouar (or Mchiouer), a 40-year-old trader living in France and father of a 5-year-old child, were killed.
A friend, Smaïl Snabe, Franco-Moroccan, was arrested by the Algerian coast guard. Mohamed Kissi was rescued by the Moroccan Navy.
A “refusal to comply”
The prosecutor’s office in Oujda, a town in north-eastern Morocco bordering Algeria, ordered the next day the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances of “a violent incident at sea”, according to a judicial source at Moroccan agency MAP.
On Sunday, the Algerian Ministry of Defense explained that the coast guard had intercepted “three jet skis which had illegally crossed our territorial waters”.
Despite “an audible warning” and verbal warnings, “the suspects refused to comply and fled, carrying out dangerous maneuvers”, according to the ministry.
After several “warning shots”, “shots were fired forcing one of the jet skis to stop, while the other two fled”, added the ministry, recalling the “increased activity of drug trafficking gangs and organized crime” in this border area.
Source: BFM TV
