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Florence Rey (born August 25, 1975) was involved in a
shoot-out in central Paris on 4 October 1994 alongside her
boyfriend Audry Maupin, (born 4 October 1972) following a high
speed car chase. The incident caused the deaths of five people —
three policemen, a taxi driver, and Maupin.
Background
Florence Rey was a 19 year old student studying philosophy at
the Science-Po and Audry Maupin was a 22 year old drop-out from
the faculty of medicine at Nanterre. At the time of the incident
they were living together in a squat in an abandoned bourgeoise
house in Nanterre.
The pair were already under observation by the Renseignements
Généraux, the French secret police, prior to the incident due to
their involvement with an underground political group. When the
police searched their squat after the killings they found
revolutionary and anarchist literature, such as The Society Of
The Spectacle by Guy Debord. They found the couple's writings,
which echoed surrealism, radicalism and situationism.
October 4, 1994
The incident began at 9.25pm, at the Porte de Pantin car pound.
The pair climbed the perimeter fence with the intention of
stealing the service firearms of the two policemen on night duty
inside and neutralizing them with their own handcuffs. They
discovered that the two officers did not carry handcuffs so they
sprayed them with tear gas before making their escape. Outside
they boarded a taxi waiting at a red light driven by an African
chauffeur from Guinée named Amadou Dialoo. A passenger, Georges
Monnier, was already on board and they threatened them with their
arms, ordering the chauffeur to drive to the place de la
République.
Normally the incident would have stopped there but ten minutes
after hijacking the taxi, on arriving at the place de la
République, Dialoo noticed a police patrol car with three officers
returning to their base in the 11th arrondissement after finishing
their duty. Dialoo panicked and rammed the patrol car at full
speed, badly injuring one of the officers, Regis D. The two other
officers jumped out and Rey and Maupin opened fire, killing the
two officers, Laurent Gerard and Thierry Memard. During the
gunfight Maupin shot Dialoo but Monnier had escaped from the taxi
and was lying on the ground.
The couple then hijacked a Renault super cinq driven by Jacky
Bensimon and ordered him to drive to the Bois de Vincennes. A
chase began and Maupin fired through the rear window of the
Renault killing a motorcycle patrolman, Guy Jacob. On arrival at
Vincennes there was a road block so Maupin ordered Bensimon not to
stop or he would kill him. 100 metres before the road block
Bensimon pulled the hand brake which caused the car to spin three
times. Bensimon was thrown out which probably saved his life. The
police opened fire on the Renault, fatally wounding Maupin who
died at 10pm the following evening at the Kremlin-Bicêtre
hospital. Before being arrested Florence Rey kissed Maupin without
showing any emotion then refused to discuss the incident
throughout her interrogation.
Aftermath
She was held in preventive detention at the Maison d'Arrêt des
Femmes at Fleury Merogis waiting trial where she was occupied with
reading and took part in amateur theatricals. She never discussed
the incident with anyone, including her lawyers. Her trial began
on the 17 September 1998, at the assise court in the Palais de
Justice, Paris. She was defended by two lawyers, Maître Olivia
Cligman and Maître Henri Leclerc. Throughout her trial she
continued to show no emotion and Maître Cligman even rebuked her
in court for her indifference. Ten witnesses were called but they
all gave different versions of the event. The decision as to if
she was a murderer or an accomplice rested on ballistic evidence
which proved that Maupin fired all of the fatal shots.
On the 30 September 1998, the advocate general asked the court
to sentence Florence to 30 years. After her lawyers had delivered
their plea she was given the final opportunity to speak but she
chose to remain silent. After five hours of deliberation the jury
found her guilty as an accomplice and she was sentenced to 20
years imprisonment. She served her sentence in the Maison d'Arrêt
des Femmes in Rennes.
She became somewhat of a heroine amongst disaffected Parisian
youth, for example where the writer Patrick Besson wrote Sonnet
pour Florence Rey, and the band The Kills wrote a song dedicated
to her. The anarchist rock group Chumbawamba dedicated their song
"Stitch That" to Florence Rey at live performances shortly after
the incident. But unlike other notorious criminals who have earned
money with their memoires, she still remains silent and refuses
the interviews.
After benefiting from a remission of sentence Florence Rey was
discreetly liberated on the 3 May 2009. During her incarceration
she had received frequent visits from her mother and studied
history and geography. She had also worked as a waitress in the
prison refectory.
Wikipedia.org
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