Two men admitted Monday to the brutal murder of a French national in 2003 when they appeared in court after more than two decades on the run.
The lifeless body of salesman Philippe Charwell was discovered in February 2003 in a ditch on a road in Gondreville, eastern France.
According to the investigation, two young prostitutes reported being harassed by Charwell as he left a bar near the train station in Nancy on the night of February 19, 2003.
He was then taken into a black BMW by two men, later identified as Christian Rad and Vasiliy Eustace.
After nearly 22 years in hiding, the fugitives involved in pimping were arrested, according to Spanish police, in August 2023 near Barcelona.
They had been living in Catalonia for about 20 years, under false identities. According to Le ParisienRad became a father of two and worked as a guard at a luxury hotel, while Eustace became a security guard.
Eustace’s lawyer, Eleonore Dupleix, France 3 saidthat her client has not yet been charged.
“We’ll find out what they say at the hearing, and each side’s version,” Dupleix said.
The two men were sentenced in absentia in 2011 to prison terms of 30 and 26 years.
Eustace, 52, a Romanian citizen, told the court that he “confessed” the incidents and said he was “sorry” on numerous occasions.
“I beat him but I didn’t want him to die,” he said of Charwell. “I ask for forgiveness from the victim’s family” and “from French society.”
Rad, Eustace’s 40-year-old nephew, also admitted that he hit the victim “with my bare hands” in the presence of the two women and his uncle.
“I saw a lot of violence. It was a shock to me too. I thought a lot about (the Sharwell family) throughout the evening,” he said.
Charwell was described as a “man with no prior history” who frequented nightclubs, had recently separated from his wife and was the father of a young son.
Presiding judge Therese Deligent said his body was found with 20 abdominal injuries, several broken ribs and “numerous cuts and injuries” to the face, including a broken jaw and missing teeth.
The ruling is expected on Friday.