Sentenced on Friday to life imprisonment, Al Khawad Al Zine Sulaymane was found guilty of the murder of three young men in Angers in July 2022.

The verdict is in. The Maine-et-Loire Assize Court sentenced Al Khawad Al Zine Sulaymane, 36, to life imprisonment for the murder of three young men in Angers on the night of July 15-16, 2022. The court imposed a 22-year minimum security period on this sentence, while acknowledging diminished responsibility but not granting any reduction in sentence.

The prosecutor had requested the maximum sentence, arguing that the accused had "literally executed these three young men and attempted to kill three others" in a "premeditated manner." In the dock, the man remained impassive as the verdict was read. "I don't know why I did it. I will never forgive myself, God will never forgive me," he had declared before the deliberations.

He returns armed with a 20-centimeter knife

The events date back to a summer evening on a promenade along the Maine River in Angers. Heavily intoxicated, the accused first harassed passersby and sexually assaulted young women, sparking an altercation with several young men who intervened. Despite the intervention of emergency services, no arrests were made at the time, a fact criticized by the public prosecutor, who stated: "You don't need a complaint to arrest someone."

A first trial in 2025

The trial was initially scheduled for October 2025 before being postponed under exceptional circumstances due to a procedural error involving a document that pre-specified a life sentence. During the hearing, the defense emphasized the defendant's mental health issues and a history marked by violence, with his lawyer referring to "countless traumas" suffered since childhood.

Having arrived in France in 2016 after passing through Libya and Italy, where he claims to have escaped several attacks, the man was granted refugee status in 2018 before it was revoked. Despite evidence presented regarding his mental state, the court imposed the maximum sentence allowed by law.