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The Court of Appeal in Tangier has postponed to December 1 the trial of the suspect who confessed to raping and murdering 11-year-old Adnane Bouchouf.
The court postponed the trial, initially scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, to allow the lawyer defending the rapist and murderer to prepare his pleadings.
According to local reports, the bar association in Tangier only recently appointed a lawyer to defend the suspect after all lawyers initially refused to take his defense.
Representatives from several human rights organizations, including the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) and the Moroccan League for the Defense of Human Rights (LMDDH), stood in front of the court on Tuesday in the hopes of attending the trial.
The Court of Appeal in Tangier, however, announced the trial’s deferral after the suspect’s lawyer requested more time to prepare his pleadings.
Three other suspects are involved in the trial for allegedly not reporting the main suspect’s crimes.
The case dates back to September 7, when the victim, Adnane Bouchouf, disappeared after his parents sent him to purchase medicine from a nearby pharmacy.
Four days after Adnane’s disappearance, security services in Tangier found his body buried in a garden near his family’s home.
Investigations revealed that the suspect, a 24-year-old man who works in the Tangier industrial zone, lured the child to his apartment, raped him, killed him, and then buried him in the garden.
Police sources announced that the suspect confessed to his crimes and showed officers the spot where he had buried the body. He reportedly said that he had committed the crimes on the same day he lured the child.
Security services arrested the suspect’s three flatmates on the following days for allegedly not reporting the crime.
