Four men were sentenced Monday to terms ranging from two to eleven years in prison for a robbery project "
with a terrorist aim
", the day of act 1 of the movement of "
yellow vests
" in November 2018.
Read also: Robbery for money or for terrorist purposes?
Four men tried in Paris
Initially suspected of having planned an attack on November 17, 2018, the four defendants were finally sent to court, after two years of investigations, for a bank robbery project in Saint-Etienne.
The whole question of this trial, which began on January 22, was to decide whether or not this design had a terrorist goal: after nearly five hours of deliberation, the 16th correctional chamber answered this question by l 'affirmative, by condemning the four men for terrorist association.
In 2019, Christophe Castaner spoke of a
foiled “
terrorist attack
”.
The heaviest sentence was pronounced against Kévin B., 27, in detention at the time of the facts for an attempted departure in the Iraqi-Syrian zone.
Kamel A. (37) was sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment and his brother, Hillal A. (25) to 5 years.
Rémi M., 54, the only defendant who appeared free, was sentenced to 4 years, 2 of which were firm.
"
We considered that you voluntarily joined a terrorist organization and that it is in this context that you knowingly chose, in connection with this doctrine, to carry out a flight
", declared the president, while two of the defendants exploded of anger in the box.
In the afternoon, the representative of the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (Pnat) acknowledged in her indictment that a text message sent by Rémi M., "
its going bled on the 17th
", which had precipitated the arrests of the four men wiretapped , had in fact "
nothing to do
" with a project of violent action.
In March 2019, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner had referred to this message while evoking on France 2 a “
terrorist attack
” foiled.
However, according to the prosecutor, there were many elements to condemn the defendants for a robbery project, in particular extracts of discussions intercepted between Kamel A. and Kévin B., from his prison.
She also mentioned Hillal A.'s attempt to acquire, in a Lyon armory, a replica of an assault rifle and a conversation in which Rémi M. speaks of November 17 as the date on which to “
act
”.
Read also: Terrorism: the army mobilized against jihad 3.0
And for the magistrate, the "
goal
" was terrorist: "
What emerges (from the eavesdropping) is a desire to fight society, to bend it, to hurt it, to punish it,
" she said. declared, before requiring between three and fourteen years in prison.
In tight ranks, the defense then pleaded, for each, the release, depicting a project "
at the stage of temptation
" which had only a banally villainous objective, for men who were then making a living from the RSA.
Rémi M. was "
rigorous yes, Daesh, certainly not
", summed up his lawyer, Me Michaël Bendavid.
It was not a question of "
serving a terrorist cause, but of living a little better
", he assured.
This case is "
the symbol of small failures, resignations, renouncements, in the face of the criminal policy pursued since 2016 in terrorist matters
", launched Me Léa Dordilly, lawyer of Hillal A. "
It is a practical case of all the pitfalls of the subject,
”she said, citing“
disastrous media communication
”and the“
abysmal vacuum
”of“
material evidence
”.
"
This file is based first of all on an error, a bad analysis of the investigators
", recalled Simon Clémenceau, adviser to Kamel A. "
The procedure collapsed
" and, then, "
it is an artificial reconstruction
" of the case.
"
Is the radicalization of Kevin B. enough to dispense with legal reasoning?"
»Assaulted his lawyer.
Of the project, “
he was not aware of it
” and in the preparations, “
where does he intervene?
»Asked Me Louise Dumont Saint Priest.
Believing that
the offense of terrorist association
had been "
twisted
", she protested against the "
elimination penalty
" proposed by the prosecution, asking the court not to "
let
" her client "
be walnut
”.
To read also: Alain Bauer: "The church and the school in the face of jihad"
