Two former legionnaires have been on trial since Friday, May 13, at the assizes in Aix-en-Provence, for having kidnapped and assaulted in a hotel room a man met in a bar, who also accuses one of them of to have violated.
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On March 5, 2017, a municipal police patrol was alerted by a man, blood on his face, who called for help from the window of a hotel on the Place de l’Opéra in Marseille. The victim, Zak Ostmane, is an Algerian LGBT activist, author of the book “Gender Prohibitedand founder of the Shams association which helps homosexuals in the Middle East and North Africa.
“I recognize 100% the violence”
This 42-year-old man told the stand that after drinking four pints in a bar in the Old Port, he was “in aweand had followed Graham Shrubb for a drink at his house. Along the way, they were joined by a second man, Alejandro Salazar, a Chilean who had just deserted from the Foreign Legion. “Barely had the first sip of beer, I received a blow in the face that knocked me unconscious and when I came to, he was sodomizing me.“, explained Zak Ostmane.
The victim detailed the numerous blows carried out by the two men, the theft of his chain, his bank card, the extortion of his code. He had been beaten while he was tied to a chair with pieces of cloth. To the psychologist, he had reported the homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic insults uttered by the two alcoholic men. The images broadcast on the screens of the Assize Court show him with black eyes, his face totally swollen and swollen. The aggravating circumstance of homophobia was retained for the violence. “I recognize 100% the violence and I am extremely sorry to have hit and injured the victim but I 100% contest the rapesaid Graham Shrubb, 35, from the inmate box. His semen was found on the victim’s underpants.
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Recognizing the violencebut not homosexual motivesAlejandro Salazar, 29, who appears free after serving two years in pre-trial detention, was described by the Legion as “a follower», unlike Graham Shrubb, a «leader», «daredevilfired from the Legion for his cocaine addiction and violent episodes. SOS Homophobia and the Mousse association are civil parties in this trial. The verdict is expected on Tuesday.
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