Trial begins for far-right activists charged with 2022 murder of Argentine rugby player Federico Aramburu
A trial opened in Paris on Monday for two far-right activists accused of killing Argentine rugby international Federico Martin Aramburu in March 2022, following a violent confrontation outside a brasserie in the French capital.
Loïk Le Priol, 32, and Romain Bouvier, 35, face charges of murder and attempted murder respectively over the death of Aramburu, 42, who was shot several times in the early hours of March 19, 2022. Both men were members of GUD (Groupe Union Défense), an ultra-right movement founded in 1968 at Panthéon-Assas University that was dissolved by the French government on June 26, 2024.
The incident began when Aramburu and fellow rugby player Shaun Hegarty were sitting at a Paris brasserie and became involved in an argument with Le Priol and Bouvier. According to the investigation, tensions escalated after Hegarty criticized Le Priol for snapping at another customer. When Le Priol tapped Hegarty on the head, Aramburu grabbed Le Priol by the hood and slammed him to the ground, breaking several of his teeth in the ensuing exchange of blows.
After the rugby players fled the scene, prosecutors allege that Bouvier and Le Priol pursued them in Le Priol's girlfriend's vehicle. Bouvier reportedly fired at Aramburu before the two accused escaped. Le Priol then allegedly returned on foot and fired additional shots that killed the Argentine player.
Le Priol, a former marine commando with the French Navy's Montfort unit, was arrested several days later at the Záhony border crossing between Hungary and Ukraine on March 22, 2022. Hungarian police discovered three military-style knives, a bulletproof vest, and a helmet in his vehicle. When arrested, Le Priol told authorities he was heading to Ukraine to fight, following Russia's full-scale invasion of the country.
The case will be heard before the cour d'assises in Paris, a special court for serious crimes where a mixed panel of three professional judges and six lay jurors will deliberate together. The trial is expected to last several weeks. If convicted, both men face sentences up to life imprisonment.
Both defendants were already under investigation at the time of the killing for the 2015 beating of a former GUD official. A court sentenced them in 2022 to two and three years in prison over that incident.
Celebrated rugby career cut short
Aramburu had built a distinguished career in international rugby. He earned 22 caps for Argentina between 2004 and 2009 and was part of the national squad that won bronze at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, defeating France 34-10 in the third-place match. During that tournament, he scored a try that World Rugby later selected as one of the 10 best tries in World Cup history.
At club level, Aramburu won two French championships with Biarritz Olympique in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons. He also played for Perpignan, Dax, and Glasgow Warriors before retiring to Biarritz in southwestern France, where he had been living at the time of his death.
Context of rising far-right violence
The case unfolds against a backdrop of increasing far-right violence in France. Research from the Center for Research on Extremism shows that severe right-wing attacks in the country increased from 30 incidents during 2015-2018 to 35 during 2019-2022, with three attacks since 2019 resulting in fatalities. According to an Interpol study, France arrested 29 individuals linked to far-right movements for terrorism-related crimes in 2021 alone, ten times the number arrested in neighboring Germany that year.
GUD, the movement to which both accused belonged, had been dormant since 2017 before relaunching in 2022, shortly before Aramburu's killing. The organization went through periods of inactivity and reorganization under different names throughout its history before French authorities ordered its dissolution following the Council of Ministers decision in June 2024.
