Three years ago, the wild frescoes by French graffiti artist Bilal Berreni, aka Zoo Project, in Paris and elsewhere, lost their author. On Thursday, American justice found an American guilty of the murder of this young artist who had gained notoriety by painting the martyrs of the Arab Spring on the walls of Tunis. He will be sentenced to between thirty and sixty years in prison, with a new hearing to clarify the quantum.
His life-size black and white drawings made him known to the general public. In July 2013, a lifeless body was discovered in Detroit, in the US state of Michigan. The mystery around the identity then lasted for many months: it was not until March 2014 that the American investigators managed to identify him, it was Bilal Berreni, 23, then to reconstruct the circumstances of his dead. On July 29, 2013, a group of young men, aged between 17 and 20, spotted the young artist near a basketball court. In debt, they seek a victim to rob to repay their gambling debts contracted with the dice. One of them, Dionte Travis, shoots the French street artist and kills him with a bullet in the head. The small group then steals his wallet and $300 hidden in his shoes.
Artist engaged since the age of 15
During his trial last September, Dionte Travis, 19, defended himself for having killed Bilal. He claimed he was just paid $20 to stand watch. Hearing gunshots, he then fled. But his version was not retained by the American justice, which found him guilty of the murder. His two acolytes, Drequone Rich, 21, and Jasin Curtis, 19, were sentenced to more than twenty years in prison. A final hearing will now specify the final duration of the three sentences. A fourth teenager, also involved in the murder, will in turn be tried in the coming weeks. “It makes me sick that a talented young artist who traveled the world to follow his dream was killed here, which also reinforces the prejudices of many about our city of Detroit”, had thundered the district attorney. local Wayne County at the commencement of the trial.
Born in Paris, Bilal Berreni began urban painting at the age of 15, trained at the prestigious Boulle and Duperré schools. His frescoes quickly made him known. Backpacker, adventurer, Zoo Project was above all a committed artist. In 2011, he went to Tunisia, in the middle of the Arab Spring. For weeks, he painted life-size portraits of the martyrs of the Tunisian revolution. He then goes to the Libyan border to draw the faces of thousands of refugees. According to his father, the young man wanted a creation imbued with a social significance. It was precisely this desire that led him to travel to Detroit, a bankrupt city marked by poverty and crime.