The Lille prosecutor's office requested Monday, October 10, 7 years in prison for apology for terrorism in recidivism against a thirty-year-old convert to Islam in prison, who had called for jihad on a Telegram forum a few months after his release.
The defense lawyer, Me François des Minières, for his part asked the court not to send his client, Julien Le Prado, behind bars, so that he continues the "
long path
" of de-radicalization started when he left. at the end of 2021, after a 7-year sentence for having tried to go and fight in Syria.
A classic path of radicalization
The defendant, 33 years old, eleven criminal convictions, went from petty crime to violent radicalization.
Born in Paimpol in Brittany, abandoned by his mother, entrusted to a depressive father then in homes, he was convicted at the age of 16 for thefts, threats or concealment, stopping his studies at the level of the fifth.
After domestic violence with weapons, he made his first long stay in prison from 2012, during which he converted to a particularly radical Islam in contact with prisoners.
Shortly after his release, he was again arrested along with four men and a woman, for having tried to go and fight in Syria.
Sentenced to seven years in prison, he was released in December 2021, with the support of an association to reintegrate.
But in August, he published on the Telegram group of a Muslim fundamentalist ideologist a series of messages which attracted the attention of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), leading to his arrest on September 1.
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"
We will only return to an Islamic state in blood and death
," he wrote.
Or on the zakkat, the tithe due by the Muslim faithful: it must be paid to those who are “
in the caves
”, “
those who do everything to recreate an
Islamic state”.
Beard without a mustache, the man admitted to the audience to be the author of the publications concerned, indicating that he had "
not really changed
" his convictions, but that he "did
not want to make an apology
".
“
It was a discussion, I was giving my opinions, that's all.
I talked about fighting, there are Muslims who are suffering, we have to help them
, ”he insists, citing Rohingyas or Uyghurs.
“
At no time do I tell people to carry out suicide attacks
,” he insists, dismissing any link with jihadist groups like al-Qaeda or the Islamic State.
Believing that the reintegration attempt is "
a failure
" and faced with a "
proven risk of acting out
", the prosecution requested, in addition to the seven years in prison, a socio-judicial follow-up under penalty of being sentenced to three additional years.
The decision is expected on October 17.