Prison Sentences Handed Down for Murder of Former Puma Federico Aramburu

Loïk Le Priol and Romain Bouvier were sentenced to 26 and 19 years in prison respectively on Sept. 26, 2026, by the Paris Assize Court for the March 19, 2022, homicide of former rugby player Federico Martín Aramburu and the attempted murder of his friend Shaun Hegarty. The verdict brought relief to the victim’s family after a four-and-a-half-year judicial process, though the court rejected the prosecution’s premeditation charge. Following three weeks of hearings and 11 hours of deliberation, the Paris Assize Court delivered sentences just below the prosecution’s requests of 27 and 20 years for the two far-right activists. According to reporting by Le Parisien, family members and supporters embraced outside the courthouse as the proceedings concluded. Yann Le Bras, an attorney representing the Aramburu family, told L’Équipe that the outcome offered profound reassurance.

The reaction is the form of apasivamiento for the Hegarty and Aramburu families, Le Bras stated, as reported by L’Équipe, describing the punishment as fitting for the severity of the acts. While the prosecution and initial instruction had weighed a charge of murder with premeditation, the court ultimately discarded that specific legal qualification. Le Bras noted that while the qualification could have been retained, the final verdict remained proportional to the facts of the case.

We have a decision that seems balanced to us and that appeases the families, Le Bras told Le Parisien. Cecilia Aramburu, the mother of the former player known for his time with Argentina’s Los Pumas, expressed relief that Le Priol and Bouvier were securely imprisoned. Speaking in Spanish to L’Équipe, she voiced disbelief that individuals with such backgrounds had remained free to act violently, adding comfort in knowing they can no longer cause harm. She also emphasized that the trial thoroughly discredited any notion that her son acted as a wrongdoer during the confrontation.

We leave with the certainty that it is clear Federico was the victim of two criminals, and that Federico was not a violent person or a criminal, Cecilia Aramburu said, according to Le Parisien. Supporters gathered outside the courthouse carrying red scarves that referenced the Argentine flag and the number 13, the jersey number Aramburu wore for the national team. Sophie Thonon-Wesfreid, another attorney representing Cecilia Aramburu, told reporters that her client welcomed the clarity the ruling brought regarding her son’s character. Judges rejected Loïk Le Priol’s initial claim of self-defense regarding the six gunshots fired that morning in Paris, and likewise refused to accept that Le Priol, a former French Navy commando, suffered from altered faculties at the time of the crime. Both men received mandatory medical treatment orders alongside their prison sentences. Judges determined that Le Priol and Bouvier acted with explicit intent to kill. Le Parisien noted that the court weighed the fact that both defendants emptied their weapon magazines and that their specialized firearms training should have made them acutely aware that Aramburu was entirely defenseless when shot. The court established that a joint action to kill took place, despite finding insufficient evidence of a formal prior agreement formed after the initial physical altercation with Aramburu and Hegarty.