He is portrayed as one of the most important French drug traffickers. Moufide Bouchibi, nicknamed “Mouf”, was sentenced Thursday, September 9 in Bordeaux to sixteen years in prison for a series of “go fast” in 2011 involving several tonnes of cannabis.
The criminal court attached this sentence to a two-thirds safety period, a fine of 4 million euros and a customs fine of 2 million euros.
At the hearing last week, the representative of the public prosecutor requested eighteen years in prison against the 41-year-old Franco-Algerian, who in 2015 had been sentenced in his absence, during a first trial, by the same court to twenty years in prison, taking into account a state of recidivism, and a fine of 1 million euros.
His arrest in March in Dubai, after nine years on the run, then his transfer to France, which the defense has always denounced as a “Disguised extradition”, had led to this new trial in Bordeaux, marked by a procedural guerrilla war, with requests for nullity from the defense.
Before the judges, the defendant had contested being behind the traffic and questioned the wiretapping, at the heart of the procedure, believing that“A single investigator [l]‘identified’.
In his indictment, Deputy Prosecutor Mathieu Fohlen stressed that during a hearing Moufide Bouchibi asked if he could “Pay the fine [du premier procès] in cash “ and that his lawyer was quick to say that his client “Joking”.
“The right has been minced”
Analyzing the content of telephone interceptions, he had endeavored to demonstrate ” mastery “ and ” the extent “ traffic of Mr. Bouchibi, who “Was in logistical capacity to simultaneously send different convoys on different routes, with astronomical quantities of cannabis resin”.
One of the lawyers of “Mouf”, Me Thomas Bidnic, had asked the judges “To note that in the absence of extradition he cannot be tried”. In the absence of an annulment of the proceedings, he had asked for the release, inviting them to resist the “Manifest pressure from the prosecution” who wanted “Hang the head of Moufide Bouchibi”.
“It is a systematic violation not only of texts, but also of the principles of the rule of law. This judgment has no rigor. My client was condemned in advance and the demonstration has just been made ”, responded Me Bidnic, who affirmed his intention to appeal.
In that case, “The right has been minced, passed through a mill”, he added, very reassured. “The extradition agreement was violated, and that doesn’t matter. Everything was like that in this trial… ”
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