The trial over the killing of former Argentina rugby international Federico Martín Aramburu opened in Paris on Monday, September 7, more than four years after he was shot dead on Boulevard Saint-Germain. For rugby, the case has never been simply a distant crime story. Aramburu won 22 caps for the Pumas, built much of his club career in France and remained part of a community that has continued to call publicly for justice.
Loïk Le Priol, 32, is on trial for «assassinat», the French offence of murder with premeditation. Romain Bouvier, 35, faces an attempted premeditated murder charge. Lyson Rochemir, 29, Le Priol’s partner at the time and the driver of the vehicle involved in the later stage of the confrontation, is also on trial for attempted premeditated murder. Antony Sorrentino, 37, is accused of helping Bouvier evade arrest after the shooting.
The events began in the early hours of March 19, 2022. Aramburu was in Paris with Shaun Hegarty, a former rugby player, friend and business partner. They had travelled to the capital to attend France versus England in the Six Nations. The pair had stopped at the Mabillon café in Saint-Germain-des-Prés when an argument involving Le Priol and Bouvier escalated into a fight. Security staff intervened and the groups separated. Aramburu and Hegarty walked away.
What happened after that separation is now the central legal issue. Investigators say CCTV and other evidence show Bouvier later reaching Aramburu and firing first. Around 45 seconds later, Le Priol is alleged to have arrived and fired six more shots. Aramburu was struck by six bullets from two weapons and died at the scene. He was 42.
Both Le Priol and Bouvier acknowledge firing weapons but dispute that they intended to kill Aramburu or acted with premeditation. Le Priol has argued during the investigation that he acted defensively and has cited post-traumatic stress linked to his military service. The jury will have to test those claims against the movement of the people involved, the timing between the first fight and the shooting, the video evidence and expert testimony.
That distinction matters because the trial is not simply about identifying the men who fired. It is about whether there was a formed decision to kill after the initial confrontation had ended, and about the separate responsibility of each of the four defendants. Rochemir’s alleged role as the driver and Sorrentino’s alleged assistance after the shooting sit at different points in the sequence and must be assessed separately.
The backgrounds of the two principal defendants also form part of the wider story. Both were associated with GUD, a French far-right student group, while Le Priol previously served in the marine commandos. Those links have inevitably shaped public discussion around the case, but the court must still decide criminal liability from the evidence of what each person did and intended on the night.
Aramburu was married and a father of three. His rugby career explains why the trial is being watched well beyond France. He represented Argentina 22 times and played for French clubs including Biarritz and Perpignan. Ahead of the trial, Argentina’s players wore black shirts carrying the words «Justicia por Fede» during their warm-up before facing Australia, while the Argentine Rugby Union publicly backed the call for justice.
The hearings are scheduled to continue until September 25 in the historic Voltaire courtroom at the Paris Palace of Justice on Île de la Cité. Over those three weeks, the jury will return repeatedly to a short sequence of time: the end of a bar fight, the movements through central Paris, the reappearance of armed men and the shots that followed. That sequence will decide whether the prosecution’s case for premeditated murder is proved.