Overview

• The Cour d’assises de la Moselle sentenced Maroof Easakhail to 25 years in prison with a 12.5-year period of security and a 15-year ban on owning firearms.
• In June 2022, Easakhail set fire to the couple’s social-housing apartment in Metz, inflicting third-degree burns over 90% of Anita Gashi’s body and causing her death a month later along with the loss of her five-month pregnancy.
• Easakhail acknowledged starting the fire but told the court it was part of an insurance fraud scheme, a claim judges rejected as implausible given the lack of valuable property.
• Prosecutors argued the attack was premeditated and alleged that Easakhail sought to eliminate his partner after securing custody of their son and obtaining a residence permit.
• Gashi’s family and the lawyer for her seven-year-old son underscored his profound grief after losing both his mother and unborn sibling and raised concerns about the system’s handling of domestic violence.