The Court of Cassation, France’s highest judicial body, has partially overturned the conviction of Mohamed Lamine Aberouz in connection with the 2016 Magnanville attack, which resulted in the murder of a police couple. The 33-year-old Franco-Moroccan, who has always denied his involvement in the killings, will now face a retrial, but only on the charge of complicity in the kidnapping of the couple’s son. The ruling, made on September 23, overturned part of his life sentence for complicity in aggravated kidnapping, citing a legal error related to how the facts were assessed during the trial. His defense argues that the only evidence linking Aberouz to the kidnapping was a single DNA trace found on a wrist rest of the police couple’s computer, which they claim was insufficient to prove his presence or involvement at the crime scene. The annulment has been described as a "technical annulment limited in scope" by Thibault de Montbrial, the lawyer for the family of one of the victims. He emphasized that the conviction for complicity in the murder of the police officers remains final, meaning the new trial will not revisit that charge. The upcoming retrial will focus solely on the kidnapping charge, with the court not being asked to determine whether Aberouz was involved in the murder itself. In June 2025, the special court of assizes in Paris had upheld Aberouz’s conviction on appeal, finding him guilty of multiple charges, including complicity in the murder of a police officer, complicity in the kidnapping of a minor, and involvement in a terrorist criminal group. Throughout both trials, Aberouz maintained that his friend, Larossi Abballa, was the sole perpetrator of the attack. Abballa was killed by police during the assault. A third trial is set to take place against Aberouz, who is currently held in isolation at Orléans-Saran prison in the Loiret department. He will be retried by a newly composed special court of assizes in Paris, focusing only on the charge of complicity in the kidnapping of the police couple’s son. The outcome of this retrial could impact the final legal proceedings against him, though the murder charge remains unresolved.