Rarely in a trial has the weight of the dead weighed so heavily.
The death of the brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi and of Amedy Coulibaly deprives justice and their victims of those directly responsible for the crimes of January 2015. None of the eleven defendants present had never come into contact with the anti-terrorism justice system.
All with a criminal record, these common law delinquents, sometimes seasoned, look pale compared to the killers.
Despite the countless investigations launched, the investigators ran up against a wall on a whole part of the file: the networks of the Kouachi brothers.
No accused is directly attached to them.
We know that their arsenal came from the former Yugoslavia, but the judges made the bitter observation that these weapons "were not traceable and their origin could not be established".
Their conclusion follows: “It results from the investigations carried out that the Kouachi brothers left only few traces behind them, as shown by telephony and computer operations;
they took care not to attract the attention of specialized services, limiting their visits, sticking to their family circle and communicating discreetly.
"
Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, two of the perpetrators of the "Charlie Hebdo" attack, died during a GIGN assault on January 9, 2015 in Dammartin-en-Goële. / AFP PHOTO
The box will therefore only be filled with suspects linked to Amedy Coulibaly, in particular for the supply of security equipment and weapons.
All assure that they were not aware of his disastrous projects which they unanimously condemn.
But the investigating judges recalled in their order, the qualification of criminal terrorist association "does not require precise knowledge of the plan to deliberately attack the life or integrity of people, prepared and / or executed by the principal perpetrator ”.
However, the magistrates believe that the radicalization of Amedy Coulibaly could not be ignored by his relatives.
"The accused are perhaps far from the crime, but they were very close to the criminal, warns Me Patrick Klugman, the lawyer for many ex-hostages of the Hyper Cacher.
Some were at his service 24 hours a day to fulfill all the tasks he demanded.
Terrorism starts there.
This trial has high stakes.
"
"This trial will be mainly done for the civil parties, complete Mes Gilles-Jean and Jean-Hubert Portejoie, who defend the widow of Michel Renaud, killed during the attack on" Charlie Hebdo ".
Our client expects a lot from it and does not despair that some gray areas are raised.
"
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VIDEO. January 2015 attacks: from "Charlie" to Hyper Cacher, 3 days that marked France
Eleven of the fourteen accused face 20 years in prison, the two alleged accomplices risk life imprisonment and a “little hand” is prosecuted for an offense punishable by ten years.
Ali Riza Polat, the alleged accomplice
This 35-year-old man is the only accused present to be prosecuted for complicity in all crimes and therefore the only one to risk life imprisonment.
Of Kurdish origin, this longtime friend of Ammy Coulibaly who grew up like him in Grigny (Essonne) "appears at all stages of the preparation of terrorist actions", summarize the examining magistrates.
In connection with many defendants, the telephone analysis reveals that he has increased common contacts and trips with his comrade in the days preceding the attacks, but his investment at his side appears to be older.
He is suspected of having put Amedy Coulibaly in touch with one of his suspected arms suppliers, several months before the attacks.
Ali Riza Polat denies these accusations.
However, an expertise in writing revealed that he was the author of a list relating to weapons, ammunition and explosives, found in search of Metin Karasular - he disputed being the author.
Amedy Coulibaly, shot dead by the RAID on January 9, 2015 in Paris./AFP
After the attacks, he tried unsuccessfully to get to Syria.
The investigation finally revealed that he had developed an interest in Daesh.
Throughout the investigation, he did not cease to minimize his role with his friend, saying he was shocked by the attacks.
"I am surprised that those who really provided the weapons are not in the box", underlines his lawyer Me Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, in reference to the members of a network of traffickers tried in Lille (North) and whose judges considered that they were not directly related to the case.
The criminal lawyer called them as witnesses.
Nezar Mickaël Pastor Alwatik, the prison buddy
Aged 35, this inhabitant of Epinay-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis) knew Amedy Coulibaly in detention at Villepinte prison, where they both worked in the laundry room.
He presents him as his "big brother".
His DNA was discovered on two handguns discovered in the conspiratorial home of Amedy Coulibaly in Gentilly (Val-de-Marne), as well as inside a black glove found in an alley of the Hyper Cacher : embarrassing clues that he struggled to explain.
The investigation also showed that he had increased exchanges with his friend before the attacks.
The judges even wonder if he did not play a role in the transport and storage of the weapons of the future terrorist.
If he admits having actually seen weapons in his friend's trunk, he assures us that he never imagined that he could use them as he did.
Willy Prévost and Christophe Raumel, the trimmers
These two men, aged 34 and 30, admitted to having served as small hands to Amedy Coulibaly, without knowing his real intentions.
The future terrorist asked Willy Prévost, whom he knew from Grigny, to pick up a car in the Oise on January 2 - the Scenic with which he will go to the Hyper Cacher.
Willy Prévost then asked his friend Christophe Raumel.
During December, both also went to buy tactical vests, a taser, a knife and gas, still at the request of Coulibaly.
To justify himself, Willy Prévost explained that he lived in fear of his principal, several witnesses who confirmed that he was the “dead man”.
Christophe Raumel's involvement appears less.
The judges admitted that he did not know Amedy Coulibaly.
He is therefore only prosecuted for an offense punishable by 10 years in prison.
He will also be the only accused to appear free.
Amar Ramdani, Saïd Makhlouf and Mohamed-Amine Fares, the intermediaries
Amar Ramdani, 39, is a former detainee who knew Amedy Coulibaly in the laundry room at Villepinte remand center.
With his friend Saïd Makhlouf, 30, they are suspected of having sought to supply Amedy Coulibaly with arms.
Between October 11 and December 20, 2014, the two men went six times to the Lille metropolis, through which the guns just passed.
During their various interrogations, they justified these trips by plans for swindling or visits to prostitutes, but without convincing the investigating judges.
Amar Ramdani also met Amedy Coulibaly on several occasions in the days preceding the events.
As for Saïd Makhlouf, his DNA was found on the thong of the taser which the terrorist was in possession of at the Hyper Cacher.
Their statements were undermined by the late questioning of Mohamed-Amine Fares.
This 31-year-old Roubaisien was denounced by an anonymous letter sent to the judges at the end of December 2017.
It is established that on October 11, 2014, the date of Amar Ramdani and Saïd Makhlouf's first trip to the North, the latter twice called Mohamed-Amine Fares.
Several people indicated that the northerner had been in contact with "Parisians" about the supply of weapons.
Metin Karasular, Michel Catino, Abdelaziz Abbad and Miguel Martinez, the Belgian-Ardennes network
The investigations into the arsenal available to Amedy Coulibaly concluded that almost all of them were old neutralized weapons legally sold by a Slovak company and then imported into Belgium and France.
The investigation focused on intermediaries and among them Metin Karasular, a 50-year-old Belgian thug.
Through Ali Riza Polat, one of his acquaintances, he met Amedy Coulibaly in the second half of 2014, initially to buy him a car.
But for the investigating judges, the discussions between Metin Karasulat, Amedy Coulibaly and Ali Riza Polat mainly focused on the supply of weapons.
The investigations then made it possible to implicate Michel Catino, a 30-year-old friend of Karasular, as well as Abdelaziz Abad and Miguel Martinez, two Ardennes delinquents involved in the network.
The case of Abdelaziz Abad stands out since, before retracting, he declared that he had been asked by Saïd Kouachi to supply him with weapons.
Hayat Boumeddiene, Mohamed and Mehdi Belhoucine, the absent
Under an arrest warrant, all three will be tried by default.
If the death of the Belhoucine brothers in the Syrian-Iranian zone appears almost certain, uncertainty still hangs over the fate of Hayat Boumeddiene.
Hayat Boumeddiene is the religious wife of Amedy Coulibaly./AFP
This one, religious wife of Coulibaly, fled France on the evening of January 1 before flying to Turkey from Spain on January 2, in the company of Mehdi Belhoucine.
Mohamed Belhoucine took another flight the same day, with his wife and their son.
All joined Syria to fill the ranks of Daesh.
Suspected of having committed several scams on behalf of his companion before his crimes, Hayat Boumeddiene gave an "interview" to the magazine of the Islamic State upon his arrival to congratulate himself on having joined the Caliphate.
While her death was announced, a new investigation into her was opened at the end of April.
A jihadist would have crossed her alive in a refugee camp in 2019 from where she would have fled.
VIDEO. Attacks of 2015: Hayat Boumeddiene would still be alive
Among the Belhoucine brothers, Mohamed, the eldest, is the most influential and will also be tried for complicity in crimes.
While a brilliant student at the School of Mines in Albi (Tarn), he was arrested in 2010 as part of a procedure for terrorist criminal association in connection with Pakistani-Afghan networks.
Incarcerated between May 2010 and April 2011, it was there that he met Amedy Coulibaly.
They stayed very close.
Several clues link it to the January attacks.
An expertise in writing awarded him the writing of the text of the pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the emir of Daesh, which Amedy Coulibaly reads in his video of claim.
Mohamed Belhoucine is also suspected of having created the email addresses with which Coulibaly exchanged with the interlocutor who gave him precise instructions before acting.
Is Mehdi Belhoucine this mysterious order giver?
For the examining magistrates, the hypothesis cannot be formally established, but appears "probable".
Peter Chérif, the mentor?
This jihad veteran will not be in the box.
Arrested on December 16, 2018 in Djibouti then deported to France, he was indicted in a separate part of the investigation, still ongoing.
This cadre of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen could have played a role in the integration of the Kouachi brothers into the organization.
