The Ajaccio court sentenced Yassine Akhazzane to seven years in prison on Wednesday, presented by the prosecution as “the instigator” of the violent burglary in 2018 of the home of Jean-Marc Ettori, the president of Tours Football Club (Ligue 2 ) in Porto-Vecchio (Corse-du-Sud). The other five defendants were released.
On the night of June 11 to 12, 2018, around 3 a.m., Jean-Marc Ettori, now 71 years old and absent at the trial, was attacked and robbed at his home in Porto-Vecchio by three hooded men and armed. The septuagenarian, also owner of the tourism company Corsicatour, had been stolen “a sum of money estimated at 120,000 euros, family jewels, a Cartier watch worth 10,000 euros and ‘half a gold ingot,’ recalled the president.
Since Tuesday, six defendants have appeared for criminal association in preparation for a robbery with a weapon in an organized gang and kidnapping. A general dismissal had been made for the acts themselves of armed robbery and kidnapping. All denied their involvement.
Tuesday evening, the prosecutor had requested seven years of imprisonment against Yassine Akhazzane, who has 16 convictions on his criminal record and is a legal recidivism. He “did not commit the facts” of course, but carried out “the preparatory acts for this robbery”, she had argued, arguing “its criminal scope”. She had also requested seven years in prison against her brother-in-law, four years and three years in prison against two “lieutenants of Yassine Akhazzane” and two releases against two “henchmen” of the same defendant.
The lawyers for the six men had all pleaded for release, denouncing “an empty file”, an “intellectual construction”, or “a procedure which has lasted too long”.
Member of the “Carboni team”
The convict is presented as a member of the “Carboni team” in a confidential note from the judicial police consulted by AFP, which lists 25 criminal gangs across the island of Beauty. He is one of three men arrested on January 4, 2021 in a stolen car, as they “prepared to take action in probable response to the assassination of Jean-Antoine Carboni”, according to this note. In this case, he was indicted with six other people for criminal association for the preparation of crimes in an organized gang.
At the statement of his sentence, Yassine Akhazzane questioned the president, from the box: “I am in criminal association with whom? Ghosts? “, he launched, announcing immediately to appeal this decision.