The main defendant who shot former rugby player Aramburu has confessed to being the perpetrator of the death

On Monday, the trialfor the murder of former Argentine rugby player Federico Martín Aramburu began in the French capital. Paris. 222 Aramburu was murdered in March 2022 - based in the Basque Country - two far-right militants are on the bench of the defendantsand the crimewill be key to whether or not they committed the crime.

Loik Le Priol  (32 years)  will be triedfor murder and Romain Bouvier (35 years) for attempted murder .

Both are linked to the far-right organization Batasuna Defense Group (GUD), which was disbanded in 2024 by the French Government and has a history of being sentenced to prison for a brutal 2015 attack on a former leader of the movement.

At his first appearance in court, Le Priol acknowledged his responsibility: "I am the author of Aramburu's death, but the court will decide whether I did it to defend myself."

The other defendant, Romain Bouvier,has said that his intention was to fire deterrent shots at Aramburu. "Every day I think of his family and his friend (Shaun Hegarty, the rugby player who was with Aramburu at the time of the murder), who saw Aramburu die in his arms.

Like Bouvier, Le Priol has apologized: "I will be condemned forever to this terrible drama, I will never stop apologizing to my family."

The two main defendants, who are in pre-trial detention and have been taken to court under strong security measures, have been placed in an armored cabin guarded by two gendarmes.

The other two defendants, Lyson Rohemir (Le Priol's partner) and Antony Sorrentino, have discussed the charges against them. The former is accused of being complicit in the murder and the latter of having helped Bouvier escape.

"I deny the facts. I've never had any bad intentions, "Rohemir said, while A0sOrrentino accepted what was attributed to him, as he did during the investigation.

Shooting

In theearly morning of March 19, 2022, Aramburu and Hegarty were at a café  on Boulevard Saint Germainin Paris, and at the table next door were Le Priol, Bouvier and his then partner Lyson Rochemir.

It appears that an argument broke out between the two teams after Le Priol and his friends made a xenophobic remark and Aramburu and Hegarty heard it.

Priol and Bouvier, however, went out armed to meet them. According to the investigation, Bouvier was the first to shoot Aramburu four times from a vanand, seconds later, Le Priol appeared on foot and fired six more shots.

The former rugby player lay onthe ground with six shots in his body. He died from injuries to the lung, kidney and liver. 

Le Priol, a former member of the French Navy,fled after the crimeand four days laterwas arrested in Hungary, trying to reach Ukraine. Bouvier was also arrested four days later in the Sartheregion.