The Special Court of Paris convicted, on Thursday, October 3, the jihadist Peter Cherif, tried, among other things, for the role he may have played in Yemen with Chérif Kouachi, one of the newspaper’s attackers. charlie hebdo on January 7, 2015, to life imprisonment.
This sentence was accompanied by a 22-year security sentence. The president of the special criminal court explained that this decision was made “given the seriousness of the events” reproached and “dangerousness” By Peter Cherif.
The accused, 42 years old, had been on trial since September 16 for criminal terrorist conspiracy between 2011 and 2018, a period of his presence in Yemen within Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He was accused of having joined the ranks of this jihadist organization and, in this context, of having participated in the training of his childhood friend Chérif Kouachi in the attack against the satirical newspaper. charlie hebdoin which 12 people were murdered. The attack was claimed by AQAP. He also appeared for the organized kidnapping in 2011, for more than five months, of three French citizens, members of the NGO Triangle Génération Humitaireitaire.
The silences of the accused
Although he exercised his right to silence most of the time during the trial, Peter Cherif admitted to having been one of the jailers of the three aid workers, having served as “translator” to act as an interface between the hostages and their Yemeni Al-Qaeda captors. He, for his part, denied having participated in the attack on charlie hebdo.
The Advocates General requested a declaration ” guilty “ of all the charges against him, painting for more than four hours the portrait of a “comprehensive jihadist” who was “the cornerstone of preparation” of the attack of charlie hebdowhose danger is, according to them, always “maximum”.
Regarding the section of charlie hebdo,METROmy El Ouchikli noted that his client was not tried for “complicity”. According to him, “The prosecutor admitted that he did not have the elements” in this sense “and it turned” the difficulty accusing him of“terrorist criminal association”a very elastic offense and often referred to as a wild card.
His colleague, M.my Sefen Guez Guez criticized the elements on which the prosecutor relied to prove Peter Cherif’s guilt, in particular declassified notes and statements from an arms dealer. “Is that enough to construct a judicial truth? »said. “I don’t think so”.
The lawyers attempted to respond to the multiple criticisms of the silence observed by Peter Cherif during the debates. “Did this trial answer the questions of the civil parties? »M asked.my The Ouchikli. “Perhaps one of the reasons for Peter Cherif’s silence or his occasional statements is that he does not have these answers”said.
“What you are willing to face is a completely disembodied story.”but to factual questions, “it closes” AND “As soon as we talk about the 2015 attacks, he runs away”criticized one of the two attorney generals, Benjamín Chambre, on Wednesday. “There was incomprehension and anger”declared M.my Marie-Laure Barré during the arguments of the civil party’s lawyers. “Answering questions were acts of compassion. “We had nothing, everything was under control”continuous. “This strategy is disastrous, it hurts”.
Just before the court went out to deliberate, Peter Cherif, invited to give his last words, indicated that there was no “nothing to add”.
