Riviera lawyer faces third trial over alleged murder of Casino heiress
Former Riviera lawyer Maurice Agnelet faced a French court for the third time to face accusations of the murder of wealthy casino heiress Agnès Le Roux, who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1977.
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Agnelet was acquitted in 2006 but the next year found guilty of killing his lover 37 years ago, despite the fact that no body has ever been found.
"I am hoping that the thruth eventually comes out," said Le Roux's brother Jean-Charles.
He and his family believes in Agnelet's guilt.
Le Roux was the 29 year-old daughter of the owner of the Palais de la Mediterranée, one of Nice’s most lucrative casinos.
She disappeared after driving off in her white Range Rover in 1977.
Her body and Range Rover were never found.
In 1985 Agnelet was acquitted because he had an alibi from another mistress.
But she later went back on it in 1999 and the case was reopened.
Agnelet was found not guilty of murder in 1985 but sentenced to two years jail for seizing Agnès Le Roux's money - about three million euros.
He had persuaded her to sell part of her business to Dominique Fratoni, the owner of a rival casino, and place the money in a joint account in Geneva.
He later transferred it to his own private account.
Two decades later, in a second trial in 2007, Agnelet was charged with La Roux's murder and given a 20-year prison sentence.
The jury of Aix-en-Provence criminal court chose to ignore his argument that no detail of how the crime was committed had ever been produced.
But the European Court of Human Rights acquitted him for "insufficient proof" and he was freed after five years imprisonment.
But a retrial was ordered and it started on Monday in Rennes, Brittany, and will last four weeks.
Forty witnesses are expected to testify.
Agnelet, now aged 76, faces life imprisonnement if found guilty.
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