Life imprisonment was requested on Wednesday in Abidjan against four accused of the jihadist attack in the Ivorian seaside town of Grand-Bassam, which killed 19 people in March 2016, including Europeans.
After an indictment of more than two hours, the public prosecutor Richard Adou asked for life, "
an exemplary and dissuasive sentence
", for the four defendants physically present at the trial, who have been on trial since the end of November.
14 other defendants are on the run or detained in Mali and among them, some "
masterminds
" of the operation for whom the prosecutor has also requested life imprisonment.
Read alsoThe careful identification of terrorists in Grand-Bassam
All are accused of "
terrorist acts, assassination, attempted assassination, concealment of criminals, illegal possession of firearms and munitions of war and complicity in the said acts
".
The four defendants present at the hearing, Hantao Ag Mohamed Cissé, Sidi Mohamed Kounta, Mohamed Cissé and Hassan Barry, are particularly suspected of having been accomplices in this attack, by helping the brains of the operation in the identification in particular, what they deny.
"
We must discourage the followers of these terrorist acts
," said the prosecutor during his indictment.
On March 13, 2016, three young assailants went up Grand-Bassam beach, which is very popular with foreigners, then stormed several restaurants, firing Kalashnikovs at customers on the terrace before being shot dead by security forces. Ivorians.
Claimed by the branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi), this jihadist attack, the first to occur in Côte d'Ivoire, had killed 19 people, including four French.
