Sid Ahmed Ghlam had been sentenced to life imprisonment for a planned attack on a church in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne) and the murder of Aurélie Châtelain, in April 2015, he will be retried on appeal from Monday in Paris.
Read also Villejuif attack: Sid Ahmed Ghlam sentenced to life imprisonment
The appeal trial of the 30-year-old Algerian student will open before a special assize court while the trial of the November 13 attacks is being held at the same time, in the same courthouse.
For the prosecution, he was "remotely guided"
Sid Ahmed Ghlam was arrested in April 2015 shortly after his crime and did not participate in the November 13 attacks but his name is linked to those of several protagonists of November 13.
Thus, according to the prosecution, Jean-Michel Clain, author, with his brother Fabien, of the November 13 claim in the name of the Islamic State (IS), is suspected of having "
remotely guided
" Sid Ahmed Ghlam, since Syria, in its plan to attack a church in Villejuif.
Read also Villejuif abortive attack: Sid-Ahmed Ghlam expresses regret
During his trial at first instance, in October-November 2020, Sid Ahmed Ghlam blamed the murder of Aurélie Châtelain, 32 years old and mother of a 4-year-old girl at the time of the facts, on a mysterious accomplice, Abu Hamza whom he will identify, after November 13, as being Samy Amimour, one of the suicide bombers who died in Bataclan on November 13, 2015.
Sid Ahmed Ghlam also admitted during his first trial to have been recruited by ISIS to carry out an attack in France during a stay in Gaziantep (Turkey) - more probably in Syria according to the prosecution - in February 2015. According to his statements, the three ISIS members who recruited him were a certain Abou Mouthana, identified as Abdelnasser Benyoucef, head of IS's external operations, a certain Amirouche, identified as Samir Nouad and a called Abou Omar, identified as Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
The latter, killed during a police assault on his hideout in Saint-Denis five days after the November 13 attacks, was the operational chief of the terraces and restaurants commandos.
He wanted to "scare"
"
What we expect from the appeal trial of Sid Ahmed Ghlam and others is nothing less than the confirmation of all the sentences to which each has been sentenced
", told AFP Me Antoine Casubolo Ferro, family lawyer Châtelain alongside Charles Merlen.
Read also Trial of Sid-Ahmed Ghlam: the day this jihad soldier took action
At first instance, Sid Ahmed Ghlam was sentenced to life imprisonment with a security sentence of 22 years and a definitive ban from French territory at the end of his sentence. During his trial, he maintained that he was in the process of de-radicalization and presented himself as "
a repentant
" without convincing the judges. Facing the court, he had argued that his plan to attack a church was just intended to "
scare
" parishioners. He also indicated that he had deliberately shot his thigh in order to escape “
reprisals
” from his sponsors in Syria.
The version of the accusation, validated by the Assize Court, is that Sid Ahmed Ghlam did kill Aurélie Châtelain to steal his car and that he accidentally injured himself by putting the weapon back on his belt.
His injury forced him to give up his attack.
Only traces of DNA and blood of Sid Ahmed Ghlam were found in Aurélie Châtelain's car and on the murder weapon.
In addition, a large arsenal was found in the student's vehicle and home, along with IS propaganda material.
The trial scheduled for October 29
His trial also shed light on the role of
ISIS
“
logisticians
”, responsible for helping perpetrators to commit their acts.
Among his co-defendants, Rabah Boukaouma, considered by the prosecution as the “
chief logistician
” of the operation and cousin of Abdelnasser Benyoucef, was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, including a two-thirds security period.
Sentences of 15 and 25 years of criminal imprisonment were pronounced against two other accomplices Abdelkader Jalal and Farid Brahami.
Four other accomplices tried at the same time as Ghlam were sentenced to terms of four to six years in prison.
Two of Ghlam's recruiters, Abdelnasser Benyoucef (presumed dead in Syria in March 2016) and Samir Nouad (presumed dead in Syria in April 2017), tried in absentia, had been sentenced, like the Algerian student, to life imprisonment .
The appeal trial is scheduled until October 29.
