1994 – The murder of Yann Piat, Member of Parliament for the Var

In 1994, Yann Piat, Member of Parliament for the Var and favourite in the Hyères municipal elections, was murdered. The town, nicknamed “Hyères-les-Bombes” because of its bombings and gangland killings, was steeped in a climate of speculative dealings and ambiguous links between the local political class and organised crime. In March 1993, one of Yann Piat’s public meetings had already been disrupted by insults.

On 25 February 1994, as she was leaving her constituency office in Hyères, Yann Piat was attacked by two men on a motorbike. Coming out of a bend on the Mont des Oiseaux road, the pillion passenger opened fire, shattering the car’s rear window. He fired again, killing Yann Piat and wounding her driver, Jo Arnaud. Jo drove at speed to a fire station, but the emergency services could do nothing. Yann Piat, the first woman MP to be murdered in France, was pronounced dead.

Yann Piat’s funeral took place on 1 March 1994 in La Londe-les-Maures, attended by more than 2,000 people, including many political figures such as François Léotard and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

Public emotion made the case an emblematic investigation. The possibility of a political motive was quickly raised, fuelled by letters from Yann Piat denouncing links between elected officials and the Var mafia. However, the investigation turned towards a mafia killing. Two young men, Marco di Caro and Lucien Ferri, were arrested and charged, suspected of having acted on behalf of Gérard Finale, owner of a bar on the Hyères harbour and would-be godfather of the Var.

In October 1997, investigative journalists revived the political conspiracy theory, implicating figures such as François Léotard and Jean-Claude Gaudin, on the basis of the claims of a mythomaniac general. The journalists were convicted of defamation and their book was withdrawn from sale.

Controversy persisted, in particular over possible manipulation by the Renseignements généraux (intelligence service) under Jacques Chirac. General Jacques Jojon, the central figure behind the allegations, died in 2009 after years of psychiatric internment.

Gérard Finale (2nd from left), the alleged instigator, Olivier Tomassone (left), who allegedly set fire to the motorbike, Stéphane Chiarisoli (centre), accused of being the commando’s “military adviser”, Ali Guechguech (2nd from right), who also set fire to the motorbike, and Romain Gressler (right), accused of tailing the car, wait in the dock on 4 May before the Var Assize Court in Draguignan, at the opening of the trial for the murder of MP Yann Piat. (Photo by GEORGES GOBET / AFP)

Philippe Vouland, instructed to defend one of the accused, found himself at the centre of a media and judicial storm. He had to prove his client’s innocence despite retracted confessions and a hostile environment. Through a meticulous defence, he highlighted the inconsistencies in the evidence and testimony. Despite the obstacles, he secured his client’s acquittal — the only one among the accused.

Read an article in Le Monde on Philippe VOULAND’s closing speech (in French): Link to the article