LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone was detained at a Portuguese airport on Monday — and released hours later — for possession of a firearm.
Ecclestone, 95, arrived at Tires Airport near Lisbon, where officers from the Portuguese Public Security Police airport division found a shotgun in his possession for which he lacked a permit.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Ecclestone admitted he brought the weapon from Switzerland for pigeon shooting.
“They asked if I had a blue book, which is apparently the documentation you need, and I told them I never travel with documents like that, any documents at all practically,” Ecclestone told the British newspaper. “They said they would arrest me, but after what seemed like hours we sorted it out, but it has been wall-to-wall aggravation."
Ecclestone was at the helm of F1 from 1987-2017, and divides his time between his homes in Switzerland and Portugal.
This is not the first time he has run into trouble for carrying a weapon at an airport. In May 2022 he was detained at Viracopos Airport in Brazil after police found a .32-caliber pistol in his possession. On that occasion he had to pay a fine and was able to leave without further issues.
Ecclestone gained a marketing grip on F1 in the late 1970s by selling its TV rights. Four decades later, the British business magnate controlled the series until his decision to step down. He continues to attend races.
See AP’s full auto racing coverage here
FILE - Former Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone stands on the starting grid before the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)
PARIS (AP) — Four people including two men linked with France’s extreme right stood trial in Paris on Monday over the killing of former Argentina rugby player Federico Martín Aramburú.
The trial took place more than four years after Aramburú was shot dead in March 2022 and a verdict was set for Sept. 25.
Loïk Le Priol, 32, was being prosecuted for murder, while Romain Bouvier, 35, faced charges of attempted murder. They face the possibility of life imprisonment.
Bouvier and then Le Priol gave their names to the court at shortly after 2:40 p.m. local time at the Palais de Justice. Le Priol accepted responsibility for the fatal shooting but maintained he used his weapon in self-defense.
“Whatever the verdict, I am condemned to bear the weight of this immense tragedy for the rest of my life," he said. "I will never cease asking his family for forgiveness.”
The 42-year-old Aramburú, who played 22 times for Argentina, was killed when leaving a bar in Paris along with his friend Shaun Hegarty, a former New Zealand rugby player. They were former club teammates at Biarritz and traveled to the capital to attend a Six Nations Championship match.
Le Priol’s former girlfriend, 29-year-old Lyson Rochemir, drove Bouvier to the scene of the shooting, and faced a possible life sentence for complicity in attempted murder. She was also present on Monday.
A fourth defendant faced up to three years in prison for concealing evidence in order to protect one of the shooters.
Bouvier and Le Priol were banned from seeing each other following their convictions for aggravated assault against a former president of a far-right student association in 2015. As members of the same organization, they said they wanted to humiliate him because he “boasted about having assaulted women.”
On March 19, 2022, shortly after 5 a.m., the two former rugby players arrived at a bar in Paris’ Latin Quarter, Le Mabillon. They sat at a table next to the one occupied by the far-right activists. Everyone was under the influence of alcohol, the investigation showed.
Although the initial conversation appeared cordial, things quickly deteriorated and insults were exchanged. Le Priol allegedly told Aramburú: “You’re going to shut up, otherwise I’ll shoot you and then I’ll (expletive) your mother.” The defendants dispute that these words were spoken.
A fight then broke out. The bar’s bouncer intervened, and at around 6 a.m., the two groups went separate ways. According to witnesses, the two far-right activists were “furious.”
Together with Le Priol’s former girlfriend, who was driving their Jeep car, they set off in search of the rugby players, according to Le Priol, in order to “sort things out.”
Surveillance footage showed the former rugby players walking down the street toward their hotel. Hegarty stopped to get some ice cubes to relieve the injuries he sustained during the fight at the bar.
Bouvier was the first to spot them while he was in the Jeep with Rochemir. He fired four shots at Aramburú, two of which struck and wounded him. Le Priol then arrived running and fired six shots into his back. Four hit him, two of them fatally. The Argentine collapsed into Hegarty’s arms.
“I never intended to kill him or even wound him. I should not have had that loaded weapon in my pocket,” said Bouvier, who admitted firing it. “I always intended to fire at the ground so that I would have time to flee.”
Le Priol and Bouvier admitted firing the shots but deny having any intention to kill. Le Priol described his actions as “a pure reflex,” explaining he “wasn’t himself,” that he “wasn’t there,” and that he “was in Africa.”
A former soldier, he served in Mali, Niger and Djibouti, where he allegedly strangled and assaulted a prostitute. He was repatriated to France in 2015 because of a post-traumatic disorder, and his military contract was terminated in 2017 after he was charged with aggravated assault in connection with the October 2015 incident.
From the very first day, investigators knew who was responsible for Aramburu’s death, as the events were captured by surveillance cameras.
Rochemir was arrested on the same day, March 19. Le Priol was arrested three days later while attempting to cross the border between Hungary and Ukraine. Bouvier was arrested on Oct. 23, 2022, in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, in Western France.
Aramburú, married and the father of three, settled in the French Basque Country at the end of his career in 2012, having played for Biarritz, Perpignan, Dax and Scotland's Glasgow.
He helped Argentina finish third at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
His mother Cecilia Aramburú was expected to attend the beginning of the trial on Monday but was unable to due to being unwell. She is likely to be present at a later date.
Last Saturday, Argentina’s players warmed up before a match against Australia wearing T-shirts with “Justicia por Fede” (Justice for Fede) on them in Aramburú's memory. The Argentine Rugby Union also called for justice.
See AP’s full rugby coverage here
Argentin's captain Pablo Matera, wearing a T-shirt that read in Spanish, "Justice for Fede," in memory of former rugby player Federico Martín Aramburú, who was murdered in Paris, France on March 19, 2022, prior a rugby test match between Argentina and Australia in Mendoza, Argentina, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
File - Argentina's Federico Martin Aramburu, center, runs with the ball during their Rugby World Cup Group D match between Argentina and Georgia, in Lyon, France, on Sept.11, 2007. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)
