Collapse of the Bourgogne building Prison up to 5 years in prison for defendants

The Criminal Chamber at the Court of First Instance of Ain Sbaa, Casablanca, delivered Monday sentences of up to five years in prison against certain defendants in the case of “Bourgogne drama “, named after the Casablanca neighborhood where 23 people died last summer in the collapse of three buildings.

The court has acquitted three men prosecuted in the state of bail and sentenced an accused, prosecuted under arrest, two years in prison and another three years in prison.

The court also handed down prison sentences of three and a half years against another defendant, four years imprisonment against both defendants and five years imprisonment against two individuals.

The court also condemned all seven challenged to a fine of 1,000 dh and severally pay compensation ranging from 20,000 to 300,000 dirhams for the benefit of applicants under civil law.

The trial of the case of Bourgogne was opened in the afternoon of Wednesday, October 15, 2014. Among the ten defendants in the case include a moqaddem, municipal technicians, a state engineer, an employee of an office for issuing building permits, and the two son of the owner of a home under construction at the time of the tragedy, himself died in the collapse.

The charges range from “manslaughter” to “non-compliance with laws on construction,” through “corruption” and “forgery of administrative documents.”

Twenty-three people died and more than fifty were injured on July 11, before dawn, in the collapse of three apartment buildings. Of the work on the ground floor of one of the buildings have been questioned and the illegal construction of several additional floors.