Walid Abdulrahman Abou Zayed, the only suspect in the hands of French justice for the deadly attack on rue des Rosiers in 1982 in Paris, has lodged an appeal to obtain his release, AFP learned on Friday (January 7th). one of his lawyers, Me Romain Ruiz.
To read also Attack of the rue des Rosiers: 38 years later, the hope of a trial
"
No material element has come to support the accusations weighing on our client
" on these 39-year-old facts, "
which therefore remains only implicated by three particularly questionable testimonies
", formulated by people to whom he "
never "
been confronted
”, denounces the one who defends Walid Abdulrahman Abou Zayed with Me Bruno Gendrin.
"
Nothing guarantees today the holding of a confrontation
" with these witnesses "
who have already demonstrated, on several occasions, the limits of their sincerity
", he criticizes.
"Serious" and "concordant" indices
Extradited on December 4, 2020 by Norway, Walid Abdulrahman Abou Zayed, a 63-year-old Norwegian naturalized Palestinian, was indicted the next day for “
assassinations
” and “
attempted assassinations
”. Incarcerated since, justice suspects him of being one of the shooters of this attack which had six dead and twenty-two wounded on August 9, 1982 by a grenade in the restaurant Jo Goldenberg then by a shooting in the historic Jewish quarter of Marais in Paris. Walid Abdulrahman Abou Zayed contests even his presence in France at the time of the facts.
On December 23, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld an order extending his pre-trial detention and which is the subject of the appeal. His lawyers believe the national anti-terrorism prosecution as well as the investigating judge incompetent, arguing that the offenses initially accused of Walid Abdulrahman Abou Zayed, via the penal code in force in 1982, would not be terrorist. In its judgment of which AFP was aware, the Court of Appeal considers the regular procedure since a first validation in April, but also that the penal code then in force did indeed target "
facts that can be assimilated to acts of a terrorist nature.
". The lawyers further argue that Abu Zayed's pre-trial detention is "
not necessary
".
The Court of Appeal retorts that "
no element has come to seriously call into question the not only serious but also concordant evidence
" aimed at Abu Zayed, but also that digital material, a potential source of "
new investigations
", is underway. operating.
French justice has issued three other international arrest warrants targeting two suspects located in Jordan, including the suspected mastermind of the attack, and a third in the West Bank.
Jordan has repeatedly refused their extradition.
