Hundreds of people, including big names in French and Argentine rugby, attended on Saturday March 26 in Biarritz the funeral of former player Federico Martin Aramburu, shot dead on March 19 in Paris, at the age of 42.
The majority of those present could not enter the Sainte-Eugénie church, on the seafront, and followed on a giant screen the ceremony in memory of the former Argentinian international (22 selections), twice crowned French champion with Biarritz Olympique (2005, 2006).
A tribute from the world of rugby
The remains of the one everyone nicknamed “Fédé” entered the church to the sound of the traditional Basque farewell song (“Agur Jauna”, “Farewell to the Great Man”) and in the presence of his wife, clinging to the arms of his two daughters. His coffin was carried by former Biarritz Olympique teammates, French internationals Thomas Lievremont and Nicolas Brusque, Argentinian Manuel Carizza and Shaun Hegarty, friend and associate of Aramburu, with whom he was seated in the Parisian restaurant where the drama took place.
Other big names in French and Argentine rugby – Dimitri Yachvili, Jérôme Thion, Imanol Harinordoquy -, as well as the presidents of the French Federation Bernard Laporte and the Ligue René Bouscatel were present in the bays of the church, such as Serge Blanco , former boss of the BO
The ceremony was celebrated in French and Spanish by Don Arnaud, a Biarritz priest friend of the Aramburu family, who described the deceased as “a man concerned with peace and revolted by injustice”.
On the pitch, a minute of applause was to be dedicated to him during all the Top 14 matches this weekend while the BO players planned to wear a T-shirt bearing his image during their warm-up and entry to the lawn in Montpellier, where they travel on Saturday.
Two suspects soon incarcerated
Federico Martin Aramburu was shot dead on March 19 in the early morning after an altercation in a bar-restaurant in the center of Paris, where he was to attend the France-England rugby match the same evening. He died on the spot as a result of his injuries.
Two militants from an ultra-right group are suspected of having shot him. One, a 31-year-old former student from the Parisian University of Assas, was indicted for “assassination” and locked up. The other, the main suspect, a 27-year-old former marine commando and member of the far-right GUD movement, is soon to be handed over to French authorities. He was arrested this week in Hungary while trying to travel to Ukraine. A 24-year-old woman suspected of “complicity in murder”was also imprisoned.
.
