“I won’t answer your question.” This phrase, repeated dozens of times like a mantra, allowed Peter Cherif to spend the first week of his trial without commenting on the facts of which he is accused: his role in the recruitment by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) of his friend Chérif Kouachi to commit an attack against Charlie Hebdo.
On Tuesday 24 September, the Paris Special Court examined the second part of this case: his involvement in the custody of three French humanitarian workers kidnapped in Yemen by AQAP, which he has always denied. And, contrary to all expectations, Peter Cherif admitted the facts.
On 28 May 2011, three Frenchmen working for the humanitarian NGO Triangle Génération, which carried out irrigation projects in Yemen, were kidnapped for almost six months. After their release, they declared that a “translator”The Frenchman, nicknamed “the Frenchman”, had acted as an interpreter during his arrest. His face was hidden by a scarf, but several elements indicated that he could be Peter Cherif, who happened to be the only French member of AQAP in Yemen.
“It was clearly that voice”
Amélie M., 45, is now a nanny. She is the first of three former hostages to testify. “I came to Yemen as a humanitarian, it was a life project since I was a teenager, because from a very early age I became aware of the things that were wrong in the world”starts.
One day, while returning home with their two French colleagues, the three humanitarian workers are kidnapped by a group of armed men and taken to a ” cave “ in the middle of the desert. Then begins a long ordeal, made up of deprivation, anguish and chained nights.
“We were not mistreated”specifies. But the young woman suffers from not being able to give any sign of life to her loved ones and from this permanent feeling. “to be a commodity, to be nothing”.
“What can you tell us about the translator?” »asks President Frédérique Aline. “I had the joy of hearing your words yesterday, at the hearing, and I had the feeling that it was clearly this voice that was present during my captivity.”the former prisoner responds.
“I am that translator”
The president then addresses the accused: “METROme M. refers to you today as this voice. Do you want to react? » Peter Cherif spent most of his trial exercising his right to remain silent. He was then expected to do the same, when in a barely audible voice he said: “I am that translator.” Then he launched into a long monologue: “Her testimony is consistent with what I have observed. However, the role I had was not simply the one she perceived. I was the translator, but I did not know that they had kidnapped humanitarian workers. I was called by the sheikh responsible for their kidnapping and asked me to translate and stay with them to meet the needs of their captivity. I was pushed against the wall… Despite the ideology I had at the time, my conscience forbade me from harming them. I felt very ashamed of what they asked me to do.”
You have 43.04% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
