(16 Dec 2020) The terrorism trial of 14 people linked to the January 2015 Paris attacks on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket ends Wednesday after three months punctuated by new attacks, a wave of coronavirus infections among the defendants, and devastating testimony bearing witness to three days of bloodshed that shook France.
Three of the 14 fled to Syria just ahead of the Jan. 7-9, 2015 attacks in Paris, which left 17 dead along with the three gunmen - who claimed the killings in the name of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
The other 11, all men, formed a circle of friends and prison acquaintances who claimed any facilitating they may have done was unwitting or for more run-of-the mill crime like armed robbery: weapons stashed in a zipped duffel that few would admit to opening, vehicles, communications, and a short-term rental apartment scouted as a hideout.
One gambled day and night during the three-day period, learning what happened only after emerging blearily from the casino.
Another was a pot-smoking ambulance driver.
A third was a childhood friend of the market attacker, who got beaten to a pulp by the latter after going into debt.
It was the coronavirus infection of Ali Riza Polat, described as the lieutenant of the virulently anti-Semitic market attacker, Amédy Coulibaly, that forced the suspension of the trial for a month.
Polat, whose profane outbursts and insults drew rebukes from the chief judge, is the only defendant present to face a life term.
A handwriting expert testified it was Polat who scrawled a list of arms and munitions - along with their prices - which was linked to the attack.
The minimum sentence requested by prosecutors is five years, for a suspect who went along to shop for weapons and a car, and watched as his friend removed the GPS tracker from a motorcycle but asked no questions.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Ещё видео!