A month after the death of Argentinian Federico Aramburu, shot dead in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, the world of rugby remains mobilized “against those who want to let hatred into our country”. Many representatives of the oval open in a forum published this Tuesday in the Team, “in agreement with the family of Federico Martin Aramburu and [avec] the support of his cousin Raúl Alconada Sempé”Secretary of Special Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Argentine Worship, specifies the daily.
Entitled “Dead because he defended his values”signed by more than 500 personalities, including the president of the French Rugby Federation, Bernard Laporte, the coach of the France team, Fabien Galthié, and its captain, Antoine Dupont, the text pays tribute to Federico Aramburu, former international Argentinian, passed in particular by the Olympic Biarritz (BO), “murdered because he opposed extremist and fascist ideas. No, Federico’s death is not a news item, a matter of common law as some want to imply.they write.
The ex-international succumbed to his injuries at the age of 42 in Paris, at dawn on March 19, after an altercation at the bar Le Mabillon, in the district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (VIth arrondissement). Following a “dispute” between two groups of people, quickly separated by bouncers, the suspects “came back soon after with a vehicle and fired shots”, according to a police source.
“Never again should a human being die in these conditions”
At this stage of the investigation, the aggravating circumstances due to a motive of a racist, xenophobic or anti-Semitic nature, are not retained by the investigators. In an article published on April 17, the JDD says, however, that during the altercation, Aramburu and Shaun Hegarty, another former rugby player with Irish, New Zealand and Basque origins present that morning, would have been taken to task because of their respective accents. “We are at home. We do what we want. You don’t have to tell us what to do”, would then have insulted the ultra-right activist Loïk Priol, a former soldier and member of the ultra-right movement Groupe union defense (GUD), the main suspect in the murder of Aramburu. Arrested on the night of March 22 to 23 in Hungary, he has since been indicted for “murder and possession of weapons” and imprisoned on April 1.
Federico and Shaun [Hegarty] were outside the playing field, and as usual, did not allow words to be said contrary to their thinking, their education, their philosophy of life. They did not turn their heads pretending not to have seen anything but they chose to react, to what for them was obviousunderline the text. We cannot accept that one of ours is assassinated in 2022 in the heart of the French capital, because he respected and applied these values [du rugby, d’humanisme]to which we add in memory of Federico generosity, benevolence, the fight for social justice and above all the love of family and friendly sharing.
This platform is also a reminder of the danger posed by the far right, a few days before the second round of the presidential election, where the prospect of seeing Marine Le Pen at the Elysee Palace has never seemed so real. “Never again should a human being die under these conditions, never again should a family be bereaved on the grounds of far-right ideology, we will continue to fight for our values, our ideas, we will always fight against those who want to leave bring hatred into our country”promises the text.
In this ongoing investigation, two other people have been indicted and remanded in custody. Close to Loïk Le Priol, Romain Bouvier, 31, was indicted for “assassination” and two offenses related to the possession of weapons. Suspected of having also shot Aramburu, he was imprisoned in the prison of La Santé in Paris. A 24-year-old woman, presented as the girlfriend of Loïk Le Priol, was indicted for “complicity in murder”. She is suspected of having driven a vehicle belonging to the far-right activist on the evening of the events.