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<\/p>\nA former member of a violent far-right group has told a Paris court he shot dead former Argentina rugby international Federico Martin Arambur\u00fa in Paris four years ago.<\/p>\n
On the opening day of his trial, Loik Le Priol told the court he was responsible for the death of Arambur\u00fa, who was killed following an altercation during a night out in the French capital.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Argentina\u2019s Federico Martin Aramburu runs with the ball.\u00a0AP Photo\/Mark Baker<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always said that I fired in self-defence,\u201d Le Priol told the jury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it is for the court to decide whether that was legitimate. But whatever that decision, I am sentenced for life to bear this immense tragedy. I will never cease to ask for forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Le Priol, 32, is one of two former members of the now-banned \u2018Groupe Union Defence\u2019 movement on trial.<\/p>\n
Le Priol, who investigators say fired the fatal shots, is charged with murder.<\/p>\n
His associate Romain Bouvier, 35, who prosecutors say also fired a weapon during the incident, is charged with attempted murder.<\/p>\n
Both men are already serving prison sentences for aggravated assault in a separate case.<\/p>\n
According to the investigation, Arambur\u00fa was having a late drink with friend and fellow former rugby player Shaun Hegarty on the terrace of the Mabillon caf\u00e9 on March 19, 2022.<\/p>\n
Le Priol, Bouvier and Le Priol\u2019s then-girlfriend, Lyson Rochemir, 29, who is also on trial on an attempted murder charge, were at a nearby table.<\/p>\n
Investigators say an altercation broke out between the two groups.<\/p>\n
CCTV footage reviewed during the investigation showed a confrontation involving Hegarty and Le Priol.<\/p>\n
The argument escalated into a fight involving Arambur\u00fa, Hegarty, Le Priol and Bouvier before security staff intervened, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
The confrontation spilled onto the Boulevard Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n
According to investigators, Bouvier fired shots at Arambur\u00fa before Le Priol opened fire. Arambur\u00fa died at the scene.<\/p>\n
The three defendants fled, say prosecutors. Le Priol was arrested in Hungary, while attempting to cross the border into Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The trial is expected to run until September 25. Le Priol, Bouvier and Rochemir all face life sentences.<\/p>\n
Arambur\u00fa won 22 caps for Argentina and played for French clubs including Biarritz and Perpignan.<\/p>\n
He was a member of the trailblazing 2007 Rugby World Cup team that finished third.<\/p>\n
Pumas captain Pablo Matera showed his support for Arambur\u00fa during the warmups for Sunday\u2019s (AEST) Test against the Wallabies in Mendoza.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Argentina captain Pablo Matera before the game.\u00a0AP Photo\/Gustavo Garello<\/p>\n
Matera wore a T-shirt that read in Spanish, \u2018Justice for Fede.\u2019<\/p>\n
He then scored two tries in the 28-28 draw, the first time in his illustrious career he had achieved that feat in a Test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former member of a violent far-right group has told a Paris court he shot dead former Argentina…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-609199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}