Overview

• Three co-owners were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and handed prison terms under electronic monitoring, with Xavier Cachard receiving four years and Sébastien Ardilly three.
• Former deputy mayor Julien Ruas was sentenced to two years suspended and barred from public office for five years.
• Six defendants, including other co-owners and former Marseille Habitat executives, were acquitted at the start of the verdict reading.
• The reading of the judgment was briefly halted when co-owner Sébastien Ardilly collapsed in court, highlighting the emotional toll of the trial.
• The decision brings legal closure to the November 2018 disaster that killed eight people and lays bare persistent lapses in Marseille’s housing oversight.