The public prosecutor’s office in Paris announced on Tuesday that it would open a parallel investigation to the probe already opened in Morocco to determine the circumstances of the death of the two French-Moroccan vacationers shot and killed by the Algerian coast guard on August 29th. The inquiry will be conducted by the criminal division of the Paris Judicial Police.
On Sunday, legal representatives of the affected families announced they would file a formal complaint in Paris, citing charges of “aggravated murder, attempted aggravated assassination, marine vessel hijacking, and failure to assist a person in danger,” according to the families’ lawyer, Hakim Chergui.
The Oujda Public Prosecutor’s office initiated an investigation on August 29, based on the statements of a person claiming to have been a victim, along with four others, according to MAP. The office has also instructed the Royal Gendarmerie in the city to gather all the necessary information on the incident, and several members of the families and acquaintances of the victims have been interviewed.
The Algerian Ministry of Defense confirmed the tragic deaths of two vacationers near Saïdia in Algerian territorial waters, asserting that, despite warnings and multiple requests from a Coast Guard unit, the men had refused to comply before the incident escalated into gunfire.