Rapper MHD and eight other defendants are on trial before the Paris Assize Court for the murder of a 23-year-old young man, in the context of clashes between two rival gangs in eastern Paris, in the summer of 2018 The trial is held until September 22. MHD denies any involvement.
2 mins
MHD is the precursor of afro trap, this mixture of hip-hop and African music. Noticed in 2015, his songs then seduce Madonna or Drake, attract thousands of people in concert, from France to the United States via Guinea, millions on the Web.
But this Monday, September 4, it is in the judicial section that MHD, whose real name Mohamed Sylla, reappears. The rapper and eight other defendants are on trial before the Paris Assize Court for the murder of a young man in the summer of 2018.
The facts date back precisely to the night of July 5 to 6, 2018, 10th arrondissement of Paris. Around 3 a.m., Loïc, 23, was deliberately hit by a Mercedes car, then beaten and stabbed by a dozen individuals. He won’t survive it.
The scene is filmed and the police are moving quickly towards the track of a settling of accounts between young people from two long-standing rival districts, this one barn aux belles and that of Chaufourniers, where the rapper lives.
For the prosecution, several elements incriminate Mohamed Sylla: he is the owner of the Mercedes used; the videos show, among the attackers, an individual with dyed blond hair, like him at the time, and wearing a tracksuit from the Puma brand, of which the rapper was then an ambassador; witnesses claim to have identified him, on the spot or on the images; finally, the investigators consider his explanations about his schedule fluctuating and contradictory.
The person concerned has constantly denied any involvement, arguing in particular that he regularly lent his car and was far from being the only young blondi in his city. Despite a year and a half of pre-trial detention, MHD has, since his release under judicial supervision in 2020, released an album that has become a gold record and a new single this summer.