It is the trial of an era. The years 2014-2015, where dozens of French people seduced by a deadly ideology went to fill the ranks of the Islamic State every month, taking advantage of the porosity of the Turkish-Syrian border. But it is above all the trial of the absent, because many of these jihadists never returned from this terrorist exile. Of the 24 defendants - including 4 women - tried from this Monday before the assize court specially composed of Paris, only five will be physically present. The rest are presumed dead or missing. But in the absence of absolute certainty, justice will judge them by default.
The debates will focus on the functioning of two sectors active in the Paris region, and in particular in Seine-Saint-Denis. The first has as its epicenter Sevran, and more precisely the clandestine mosque known as "radars". Eight followers of this now closed place of worship, formerly known as the “Daesh mosque”, joined Syria between September 2014 and January 2015. None returned. Some are suspected of having perished in the Syro-Iraqi area by committing a suicide attack, others in combat.
Two men are suspected of having played a central role in the transportation of these young jihadists. A former student of the Albi school of mines, Sofiane N. lectured at the radar mosque. According to a witness, this math teacher was convinced by the ideology of the Islamic State. A Daesh flag will be discovered in his home in Aulnay-sous-Bois. Himself left to join Syria in January 2015, he welcomed and guided the recruits. He was reportedly killed in a bombing attack, but like all those absent, he is the subject of an arrest warrant.
Close to Amedy Coulibaly
In France, the investigation focused on the role played by Iliès B., a 29-year-old Sevran man who admitted having accompanied several of his relatives to the airport. The use of its computer media has made it possible to demonstrate its adherence to the theses of the Islamic State, which it defends itself from. During the investigation, he explained that his comrades left to join Syria only to peacefully live their religion. The messages he continued to exchange with his comrades in the area, in which the latter informed him of their plans for suicide attacks, weakened his position. The magistrates who indicted him also accused him of wanting to join Syria, but especially of having envisaged an attack in France. "We strongly contest any plan of violent action," objected his lawyer Me Cosima Ouhion. Arrested in November 2015, Iliès B. will be one of the few defendants present in the box.
The second sector revolves around the Belhoucine brothers, residents of Aulnay-sous-Bois, whose eldest, Mohamed, had known Sofiane N. on the benches of the Albi school of mines. Her little brother, Mehdi, acquired a certain notoriety by taking the same plane as Hayat Boumeddiene, the religious wife of Amy Coulibaly, the killer of the Hyper Cacher, a week before the attacks. What is worth to these two brothers presumed dead to be also involved in the file of the attacks of January 2015.
Among the people who joined ISIS through this channel, the case of the F. family is the most striking. On January 3, 2015, the spouses F. flew to Turkey with their three young children. Two and a half years later, Malik (the first name of this minor has been changed), the eldest sibling, will be discovered by the Red Cross in an orphanage in Baghdad. Repatriated to France, he gave a dramatic account of his stay. The boy explained that his father had a Kalashnikov and a pistol and that he had shown him videos of the slaughter. The latter would have died on the spot in unknown circumstances. As for his mother, brother and sister, he said that they had died from a night bombing in Mosul.
The Belhoucine brothers also on trial for the 2015 attacks
The Belhoucine brothers will be tried again by default next spring. But in a much heavier case, that of the January 2015 attacks. Investigations have shown that they were close to Amy Coulibaly. At the Villepinte prison in 2010-2011, Mohamed Belhoucine had thus met the future assassin of the municipal policewoman from Montrouge and clients of the Hyper Cacher in Vincennes. The former engineering student was already detained in a terrorist procedure, in connection with Pakistani-Afghan channels. The two men then remained in contact.
On the night of January 1, 2015, Amedy Coulibaly and her partner Hayat Boumeddiene joined Mohamed Belhoucine at his home in Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis). Together, they embark on a Seat Ibiza to reach Madrid airport. On the spot, on January 2, they find Mehdi Belhoucine who took a bus to reach the Spanish capital. In the early afternoon, Mehdi Belhoucine and Hayat Boumedienne embark on the same flight to Turkey. Mohamed embarks with his wife and young son on the next flight. Amedy Coulibaly will resume the road to Paris with the fatal destiny that we know.
This role in the exfiltration of Hayat Boumeddiene means that the two brothers are referred to in the case. But the charges are even heavier for Mohamed, whose investigation revealed that he himself had drawn up the allegiance to the Caliphate of Amy Coulibaly found in his hideout in Gentilly (Val-de-Marne). He is also suspected of having supplied him with email addresses which the terrorist used to communicate with a client. Mohamed Belhoucine will be tried as an accomplice to the crimes of Amedy Coulibaly.
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