Two men on Monday confessed to a brutal French murder in 2003 when they appeared in court after more than two decades on the run.
The body of salesman Philippe Charuel was found in February 2003 in a roadside ditch in Gondreville, eastern France.
According to the investigation, two young prostitutes had reported that Charuel molested them while leaving a bar near the train station in the city of Nancy on the night of February 19, 2023.
He was then taken into a car, a black BMW, by two men, who were later identified as Christian Rad and Vasile Ostas.
After almost 22 years in hiding, the two fugitives, who were involved in pimping according to the Spanish police, were arrested in August 2023 near Barcelona.
They had been living in Catalonia for around 20 years, under false identities. According to Le ParisienRad had become a father of two children and worked as a concierge in a luxury hotel, while Ostas had become a security guard.
Ostas' lawyer, Eléonore Dupleix, to France 3her client has not yet been identified.
“We'll find out what they say at the hearing, the version on both sides,” said Dupleix.
The two men were jailed in absentia in 2011 to 30 and 26 years in prison.
Ostas, 52, a Romanian national, told the court he had “taken in” the facts and said he was “sorry” several times.
“I hit him but I didn't want him dead,” he said of Charuel. “I ask for forgiveness from the victim's family” and “from French society.”
Rad, the 40-year-old nephew of Ostas, also admitted that he hit the victim “with my hands,” in the presence of the two women and his uncle.
“I saw a lot of violence. It was a surprise to me too. I was thinking a lot about (Charuel's family) all evening,” he said.
Charuel was described as a “man with no past history” who frequented nightclubs, had recently separated from his wife and was the father of a young child.
His body was found with 20 wounds to the abdomen, several broken ribs and “numerous wounds and injuries” to the face, including a broken jaw and missing teeth, said judge Therese Diligent.
The decision is expected on Friday.
