On the signs hanging in the waiting room of the courthouse in Ajaccio, the term “stupidity”, often used by Antonin Bru to talk about the murder of Kimberly Extremera, killed on October 14, 2022 in Ajaccio and for which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, has been crossed out. In its place, women’s rights defense associations have written in red, “femicide”.
The terminology is contested by the defense. “We are not dealing with a case of control as found in cases of domestic violence, experts say we are dealing with a classic case of conjugopathy. The suffering experienced concerns both partners and is self-sustained by the couple themselves,” pleaded Lawyer Marie-Hélène Casanova Servas.
At 2 p.m. on this day of the verdict, before she stood up to speak on behalf of Antonin Bru, followed by her colleague Lawyer Antoine Vinier-Orsetti, a hedge holding signs and photos of Kimberly welcomes the public at the entrance of the Ajaccio court. “When you enter the courthouse and see the photos of the victim, beautiful, funny, a ray of sunshine, it’s something special. I want to say that the only ones who have the right to come with these photos are these three,” supported Lawyer Vinier-Orsetti, pointing to the bench where Kimberly’s father, mother, and brother have been sitting for a week.
“Kimberly, you had the courage to leave him, he killed you”
But the supporters, even strangers, do not agree with this statement. “Kimberly, you had the courage to leave him, he killed you,” is also written on a piece of brown cardboard. Signs hung on the gates of the courthouse from the first day of the trial.
Moreover, there are highly symbolic supporters who had the strength to enter the courtroom. First, two mothers. Two mothers who have already attended the sessions as civil parties for the murders of their respective daughters: Joanna Tavera and Savannah Torrenti. The two mothers, in a shared, discreet mourning, have sat almost side by side every day. They were already present at the trial of Bruno Garcia-Cruciani, the assassin of Julie Douib, killed on March 3, 2019, and sentenced to life imprisonment twice. Representatives of women’s rights defense associations, with badges around their necks or pinned to their clothing, have also taken turns at the bar asserting the origin, according to them, of the crime.
