Thursday, April 20, 2017. All of France is facing the first round of the presidential election, which is due to take place three days later.
When, around 8:45 p.m., gunshots ripped through the "most beautiful avenue in the world": a man fired at the Kalashnikov against a police car parked at number 102 of the avenue des Champs-Élysées.
“He wanted to play the policeman.
He was like a missionary, no panic, really calm, ”
said one of the police officers.
Xavier Jugelé, 37, is fatally injured.
Two of his colleagues as well as a German tourist are injured.
Read also: The victim, Xavier Jugelé, 37, a police officer hailed for his courage
Four years later, the trial which opens this Monday, June 7 before the specially composed Assize Court - no popular jurors, only professional magistrates - is not that of the shooter, Karim Cheurfi.
This 39-year-old native of Seine-Saint-Denis, sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment in 2005 for "attempted assassinations on persons holding public authority", was shot dead by the police shortly after the fact. .
The terrorist qualification for a single accused
On the other hand, four men appear
"for having played a role, to varying degrees, in the supply of the assault rifle"
to the terrorist, underline the three examining magistrates in charge of the file in their order of indictment.
The first three, Médérik M., Mohamed B. and Yanis A., aged 27, 28 and 29, are summoned to court for "possession of arms" and "transfer of arms".
The latest, Nourredine A., a 31-year-old Franco-Algerian, is on trial for "terrorist criminal association".
Read also: Policeman killed on the Champs-Elysées in 2017: the anti-terrorism prosecution wants a trial for 4 suspects
If the indictment order notes that the hypothesis of a radicalization of Nourredine A., convicted 19 times between 2004 and 2013, was excluded by the investigation, it insists that the accused would have sold the Kalashnikov to Karim Cheurfi
"knowing that the latter had a resolute and displayed will to attempt the lives of police officers"
.
About fifteen civil parties
For his part, the Franco-Algerian firmly denies having bought the assault rifle from Yanis A. through the intermediary of Mohamed B., then having resold it to the killer of the Champs-Élysées. The Kalashnikov did not bear the prints of Nourredine A. - but neither of Mohamed B., who admitted to having detained her, note the examining magistrates. On the other hand, prints of Yanis A. and Médérik M. were found on the weapon.
Faced with these four defendants, about fifteen civil parties, including two associations of victims, the wounded of April 20, 2017 and relatives of Xavier Jugelé. Me Thibault de Montbrial defends in particular the companion of the victim, who became her husband during a posthumous ceremony celebrated on May 31, 2017 at the town hall of the 14th arrondissement, in the presence of Anne Hidalgo and François Hollande.
