Paris: moving tribute to former Puma Federico Martín Aramburu, on the first anniversary of his assassination

In an austere and moving homage, under a thin drizzle that kept falling, Paris paid homage this Sunday to the former Puma Federico Martín Aramburuwhose murder on Boulevard Saint-Germain at the hands of a far-right militant is one year old.

A few meters from the scene of the crime, at 146 of the legendary avenue, relatives, friends and former colleagues of the former Argentine rugby player have gathered to commemorates the first anniversary of the shooting of Loïk Le Priol (28 years old), the alleged perpetrator of the crime was placed in temporary custody awaiting trial.

“I feel the pain of lack of Faith and the trauma. My son was shot from behind‘, Cecilia Aramburu, who led the tribute to the former Club Atlético San Isidro, Biarritz Olympique and USAP Perpignan player, who was murdered when he was 42, told the press. He was the father of three.

In addition to the mother of the former Argentine international (22 appearances with the Pumas shirt), the Argentine ambassador in France, Leonardo Costantino, and the local authorities, including the Paris councilor for sport and ex rugby player Pierre Rabadan .

The homage was also attended by rugby personalities such as Serge Blanco -former president of Biarritz Olympique, the club with which Aramburu was proclaimed champion of France on two occasions-, the Argentine coach Gonzalo Quesada, and the former president of the French Federation of rugby, Bernard Laporte.

The tribute, which was also attended by the widow of Aramburu, concluded with the playing of “Give joy to my heart”, the song by Fito Páez.

In her speech, which she had to interrupt due to emotion, Cecilia Aramburu bet against the intolerant ideology of the extreme right as the main reason for the murder of his son and regretted that both Le Priol and one of his accomplices, Romain Bouvier, acted with “total” freedom despite being on a police record and one of them being on probation.

“My son was victim of an execution that should never have taken place”, he confirmed. For Ambassador Costantino, Aramburu – who since his retirement from rugby has managed a tourist company in Biarritz – symbolized the friendship between Argentina and France and asked that “it be done justice”.

In the early hours of March 19, Aramburu, accompanied by his friend and former New Zealand player Shaun Hegarty, had an argument at the Mabuillon restaurant with Le Priol – who was accompanied by his partner – and Bouvier.

Aramburu and Hegarty they would have defended a third person who asked for a cigarette and who had been mistreated by the two young extremists.

After the xenophobic and racist comments of Le Priol and Bouvier, tensions increased and the Argentine, who also had French nationality, was shot by both, even though the ones who caused his death were Le Priol.

Le Priol, a former soldier and member of the far-right Grupo Unión Defensa (GUD) movement, fled to Hungary after the events and was arrested there. He and Bouvier are accused of “murder” and are in jail.

One of the two plaques discovered on the Boulevard Saint-Germain denounces the ideological nature of the murder: “May no family ever again suffer the loss of a loved one due to ideas and hatreds rooted in fanaticism such as that of the extreme right”.