Did the robbery plan have a terrorist aim?
Four men, suspected of Islamist radicalization, have been appearing since Friday in Paris for having considered attacking a bank during Act I of the "yellow vests" on November 17, 2018. These are a few words, sent by SMS, which triggered their arrest, four days before the first national meeting of the movement.
"She'll bled on the 17th,"
wrote one of them.
To read also: Four "radicalized" men tried for a robbery project during act 1 of the "yellow vests"
Several months later, the then Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, affirmed that a
"terrorist attack"
had at the time been
"neutralized"
.
It is however for a robbery project that they appear for a week, the investigating judges having finally decided, at the end of the investigation, to reclassify the facts.
"The question that arises is that of the aim and objective"
of this project, mentioned
"in the midst of discussions resuming the theses put forward by terrorist organizations"
, explains, at the beginning of the afternoon, the president of the court.
“Behind, there is the possible presence of the concept of 'ghanima', that is to say of an approach to recover a booty for purposes of struggle within the framework of the armed jihad”.
In the box, two brothers, Kamel (37 years) and Hillal A. (25 years), as well as Kévin B. (27 years), who were serving at the time of the facts a sentence of six years for association of terrorist criminals.
At the bar, Rémi M., 54, released a year earlier after more than a year in pre-trial detention.
Like his co-convicts, he has always challenged a terrorist plan but recognizes a heist project.
It all comes from
"financial difficulties"
and a
"need for money,"
he argues, glasses and a long salt and pepper beard under his surgical mask.
“I was the one who mentioned a distributor near my home that was under construction.
I said: 'look at the vending machine, there are pennies in it, it's easy to open,' ”he
says.
Hunting rifle
While unemployed in Saint-Etienne, he said he had met the two brothers at the mosque and had
"sympathized"
a month and a half earlier, the eldest having a
"marriage plan".
They
"had nothing",
they
"slept on a doormat"
and wanted him to
"help her children, pay her son a car"
.
"It's a utopia," he
tries.
“There are utopias that are not illegal,”
the president remarked, skeptically.
The two brothers had been wiretapped and under surveillance from the end of August 2018, as part of an investigation that extended to the other defendants.
In conversations, Kamel A. and Kevin B. then exchange propaganda from the EI group, the latter claiming to have
"pledged allegiance".
"You have to disavow yourself or you have to act,"
he said in particular in September, according to a transcript.
At the end of October, at the home of the two brothers, Rémi M. declared that it was necessary to
"organize"
for the
"general strike"
of November 17:
"This is where we must act (...) when all cops are on the road, ”he
says.
"We are going to punish these dogs"
, answers Kamel A. On November 17, "
this is the right time to go and open a safe since [the police] will not be there, we will not be arrested"
, asserts Rémi M.
And the reply from Kamel A., asks the president?
“I don't know,” he
repeats.
"He never spoke to me about violence."
It was he who, on November 8, sent the famous text message
"its going bled on the 17th"
to a correspondent outside the case.
The message was part of a conversation about a spare part for his car, said the president.
This means that that day,
"the yellow vests will do damage"
, assures Rémi M, who swears:
"There is no connotation, it's an expression".
The trial is to continue on Tuesday with the interrogations of the other defendants, to end on Friday evening.
