Since the tragedy that occurred three years ago, Ilias Akoudad, accused of the murder of brigadier Éric Masson, has denied the facts with which he was accused.
“Yes, it was me who shot the policeman.” These words are those of Ilias Akoudad, main suspect in the case of the murder of police officer Éric Masson, 36, killed by two bullets on May 5, 2021 in the city center of Avignon, on a point of deal where he was intervening . Three years after the tragedy, the one who is currently on trial before the Vaucluse Assize Court and who until then had always denied the facts with which he was accused, and even down to his presence on the scene, according to Le Figaro, finally confessed.
Confessions which were expected, in addition of course to being hoped for by the victim’s relatives, while for a week and the start of the trial, affirms The Dispatch, the hearings were more and more overwhelming for Ilias Akoudad. However, the 22-year-old young man assured that he was unaware of the police status of the individual he shot. “I never had the knowledge of the quality of police officer. I would have known it, we would have continued our journey”, he affirmed during the hearing this Monday, February 26, as reported Free lunch.
Why did Ilias Akoudad finally confess?
Explaining that upon arriving at rue du Râteau, “we [l’avait] informed that there were people who were going to see the customers to serve them”, and that this is why he would have rushed there, Ilias Akoudad returned to the facts. He said that Éric Masson understood very well that he did not know that he was a police officer. “When I[ai] demand[é] if he coals[ait]he laughed and said come on,” he recalled. After approaching the police officer, Ilias Akoudad claimed to have asked him what he had to sell.
There, Éric Masson would have shown him a bag seized from a buyer. The policeman allegedly asked him what he would give him. “I said 10 euros and there he [m’a] said: ‘Wait!’ I put my hand in the bag, pulled out the gun and explained the situation to him, that it[était] a deal point, which he doesn’t have[vait] not for sale here and go elsewhere”, detailed Ilias Akoudad, relay Free lunch. Faced with the weapon, Éric Masson would still not have declined his profession, the accused further assured.
If Ilias Akoudad confessed, it was above all because it “hurt him to see Mr. Masson’s family like that”, he said. The young man, who faces life imprisonment, spoke on Monday while his mother was questioned at the bar. As pointed out Le Figaro, Ilias Akoudad will in turn be questioned on Wednesday. The opportunity, without a doubt, to come back to his new version of the facts.