In France, Outrage Grows Over Jeweler Charged in Killing of Lawless Thug

@comradearthur notes that the voyou had 14 charges to his name, and I think he was only 19 years old. He says that that should put him in a special legal class -- "Outlaw."

I kind of like that idea, except for the drawback that people might start shooting in more gray-area situations figuring, "Hey, maybe I'll get lucky and it'll turn out this guy is officially Outlaw."

Anyway, here's AP's story (in English).

Jewelers in southern France say they're being targeted as never before and lack the resources to protect themselves.

"It was a difficult situation. I don't know how I would have reacted myself. I don't endorse what he did, but he had been beaten and threatened with death," Yan Turk, the son of the jeweler, told the Nice Matin paper. "We've had it with being targeted by robbers."

The young man killed, 19-year-old Anthony Asli, had been in trouble as a juvenile and was freed about a month ago from his most recent stint in detention, shedding his own electronic bracelet and moving in with a longtime girlfriend who is pregnant with their child. Asli's family described him as impressionable and immature.

"The family's not condoning the robbery. They're not condoning it and they're not excusing it. It was Anthony's fault. But did he deserve to die in these conditions?" their lawyer, Olivier Castellacci, said Tuesday. "We don't have, in France, the notion of taking justice into your own hands. The family is revolted by that."

But France has seen a spate of high-profile jewelry thefts lately, and Castellacci said the mobilization in support of the jeweler is a reflection of unease with increasing violence.

The robbery was carried out with a shotgun, he said. It wasn't clear whether Asli and the accomplice both had firearms.

Yeah the family is going on a press tour saying how terrible it is that the jeweler isn't behind bars yet (he's under house arrest, with electronic surveillance).

I guess I understand that... as it's their family they're talking about. But there is an awful lot of anger at the jeweler for, let's face it, taking care of a problem of a longstanding and chronic nature.

The article mentions another jewelry heist that took place this past summer, in Cannes. That robbery was more successful and lucrative -- to the tune of $136 million.

A state prosecutor says the organizer of a diamond exhibit and sale has more than doubled the estimated value of diamond jewelry stolen in a brazen weekend heist at a luxury hotel on the French Riviera — to some $136 million.

The elevated value of the jewels taken has caused some in the French press to dub it the "Heist of the Century."

Police had previously said Sunday's theft at the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel had netted euro40 million ($53 million) in loot — even at that level, one of biggest jewelry heists in recent years.

Assistant prosecutor Philippe Vique said the Dubai-based organizer of the diamond show has raised the value based on a more complete inventory.

Mm-hm.

Not only that, but earlier, during the actual Cannes film festival, thieves stole over $1 million in jewelry intended to be worn by visiting celebrities from a hotel safe.

There's even a gang of East Europeans called the Pink Panther gang stealing gems left and right.

So it's open season on French jewelers. But then someone painted a sign that said "Thug Season" and everyone goes crazy over it.

The odd thing is that these cases always seem to attract too much prosecutorial attention and interest. If there had been no shooting, and if the thugs were simply caught, they probably would have been jailed for like six months.

And the jeweler knows this. And he's watching his money go riding down the street on a scooter.

So he shoots the punk, to keep his money from being stolen, and now he's facing the kissing cousin of a murder rap.

Personally I think fleeing this sort of crime constitutes a continuation of the crime and the law of self-defense should continue to apply. It's silly to think that people will not shoot a fleeing robber escaping with their hard earned money-- especially after that robber just used a shotgun to force the victim to open a safe.

Laws should be written in comportment with human behavior. It is normal human behavior to shoot a fleeing punk in this situation. The law should therefore bless it.

The law should not be an ass.

The law should be written to make sense to the common man, not the exceptional one. Perhaps an exceptional man places so much value on the life of the man who just beat him, threatened him with a shotgun, and stole his fortune that he would rather let a fleeing robber escape than fire a shot at him.

But the common man doesn't feel this way. And the law should demand a basic level of good behavior, not a heroic level.

posted by Ace at 07:09 PM

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