One of the key suspects in the spectacular Louvre robbery, Abdoulaye N. - alias "Doudou cross bitume" on social media - appears Friday before the Bobigny criminal court, for a completely different vandalism case dating from 2019.
This minor trial was postponed on 5 November at the request of his lawyers, including Maxime Cavaillé, who cited "old events" and the need to ensure "a calm and orderly proceeding."
The defendant was absent at the time and refused to appear via videoconference.
Already known to police for aggravated theft, 39-year-old Abdoulaye N. is finally to be tried for damaging a mirror in a police station in Seine-Saint-Denis in 2019.
"He will not be brought" from his cell in the prison where he is being held in pretrial detention, Cavaillé asserted before the hearing, adding that "he should not be heard via videoconference either."
The man is suspected of having participated, two weeks earlier, before the November trial, in what some media outlets dubbed the "heist of the century" at the Louvre Museum in Paris on 19 October.
Thieves, posing as construction workers in yellow vests, were filmed stealing Crown Jewels in a matter of minutes. A simple freight elevator allowed them access to the Apollo Gallery in broad daylight. The loot, eight Crown Jewels, estimated at 88 million euros, has still not been recovered.
Abdoulaye N.'s DNA was discovered, notably on a broken display case. In this Louvre robbery case, he was formally charged with "organised theft" and "criminal conspiracy."
His profile, like that of his alleged accomplice, a former delivery driver, does not correspond to those "generally associated with the high end of organised crime," Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau stressed.
The man had previously gained a small notoriety on social networks by combining physical performances and motocross culture in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis): on the TikTok platform as on Instagram, he presented himself as "the legend" of "cross bitume 93 Aubervilliers."
