The assize court of Loire-Atlantique, in Nantes. – © Fabrice ELSNER
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The trial in the assize court of Yannick Luende-Bothelo was completed on Thursday afternoon in Nantes by a punishment extremely rare in France. This Congolese 29-year-old has been condemned to the criminal reclusion to perpetuity actual for the rape and murder of Marion, 14 years old, killed 69 knife in the night from 18 to 19 march 2012, near Nantes.

The sanction means that no development or remission of sentence will be considered before a minimum of 30 years. The possibility of release from prison will then be left to the discretion of the sentencing judge.

As Pierrot Bodein, Michel Fourniret and Nicolas Blondiau

This sentence, also referred to as ” life without parole “, is the heaviest sentence provided for by French law. It was planned in 1994, and a reform of the penal Code made by the government of Balladur. Since then, only three men have made it object.

Pierre Bodein said ” Pierrot le fou “, convicted in 2007 of kidnapping, rape and murder of two teenage girls and a wife of 38 years. Michel Fourniret, dubbed ” The monster of the Ardennes “, convicted in 2008 of five murders and two murders of young women, major and minor. Nicolas Blondiau, who was sentenced in 2013 for the murder and rape of Océane, a young girl of 8 years. Yannick Luende-Bothelo would therefore be the fourth in France.

Christian Beaulieu has also been sentenced to life real in 2007 for the rape and murder of a 4 year old child, but his sentence was reduced on appeal in 2008.

Why is this so rare ?

If the life without parole is so rare is because it only applies in limited situations : the murder of a minor under the age of fifteen years, preceded by rape, torture or acts of barbarism, murder of a person agent of the public authority (police officer, policeman, judge, etc.). The national Assembly has also voted at the beginning of march an amendment to that terrorist acts can be affected.

In any other situation, the crimes aggravated felony may be punished by a sentence of life imprisonment accompanied by a safety period may not exceed 22 years. Criminals as famous as Guy Georges, and Alfredo Stranieri, David Hotyat, or Tony Meilhon, for example, have been sentenced to life imprisonment with a period of surêté of 22 years.

>> read also : Murder of Laëtitia Perrais: Tony Meilhon sentenced to life in prison

” It is a kind of death “

The life-incompressible French, although validated by the european court of human rights (ECHR) in 2014, is sometimes criticised as they are deemed inhumane. The lawyers of Yannick Luende-Bothelo are not far from sharing this view on Thursday.

” The accused is 29 years old. Thirty years of prison, it is the double of her age, with no hope of escape. It is necessary to imagine the consequences of psychological and physiological “, raises Carole Leroux. “It is a kind of death,” says Olivier Renard.

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