“Air Cocaine” case. approved penalties for airline officials

On Wednesday, the Court of Cassation upheld the six-year prison sentences of airline officials in the “Air Cocaine” case. On July 8, 2021, Pierre-Marc Dreyfus and Fabrice Alcaud were found guilty.drug trafficking in organized crimeand was sentenced to six years in prison by the Special Court of Appeal of Bouches-du-Rhône, which thus confirmed the verdict of the first instance.

The two men ran SN-THS, the Lyon-based airline that operated the flights, one of which the court said had authorized the importation of drugs in 2012. in december in March, 26 suitcases containing 700 kilograms of cocaine were loaded at the Dominican Punta Cana airport, and they were acquitted.

In April 2019, at the first trial, they were sentenced to six years in prison in this case, with twists and turns, during which they notably fled the Dominican Republic, where they had been imprisoned for 15 months. MM. Dreyfuss and Alcaud have always denied that they were aware that their plane was transporting cocaine from the Caribbean and Latin America, chartered by middlemen linked to the traffic.

The Court of Cassation, however, violates another ruling

They appealed to the Court of Cassation, but the country’s highest court, which judges on the law, not on the merits, rejected their arguments and upheld the prison sentence. The decision also confirms the verdict of Ali Bushareb, who is considered the sponsor of three controversial thefts, who was sentenced to 18 years of criminal imprisonment on appeal and also appealed to the court of cassation.

The Court of Cassation, on the other hand, annulled the judgment regarding the confiscation of all property and funds seized in this case, because the Court of Cassation did not state in its judgment as it should.the nature and origin of the articles under seal, which he ordered to be seized, and the ground of this penalty;“. MM. Dreyfus and Alcaud were temporarily released under judicial supervision in October 2021, pending a decision by the Court of Cassation. At different stages of the case, they had already completed a total of about 15 months of detention.