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Trial of the January 2015 terrorist attacks: the lexicon of charges

2020-09-17T13:29:08.697Z


Until November 10, fourteen people are on trial for the Charlie Hebdo, Montrouge and Hyper Cacher attacks. What does the


“Financing of terrorism”, “complicity in terrorist crimes”, “criminal association of terrorist criminals”… A very precise judicial lexicon has resounded in the room of the special court of assizes in Paris since September 2.

Survivors and relatives of victims face the eleven defendants - three others are tried by default - of the trial of the jihadist attacks against Charlie Hebdo, the police and the Hyper Cacher.

The magistrates are looking into these attacks until November 10, which killed 17 people and raised an international shock wave.

What do these charges mean?

What is a special assize court?

What do these legal terms related to terrorism cover?

Act of terrorism

"Terrorism is a large set of offenses that already exist - murder, attack on people, damage to people, etc. - but the fact that the offense is terrorist constitutes an aggravating factor", summarizes a lawyer. Parisian criminal lawyer.

According to article 421-1 of the Penal Code, an offense is qualified as an act of terrorism in the event that it is “intentionally in relation to an individual or collective enterprise with the aim of seriously disturbing public order by intimidation. or terror ”.

The scale of penalties applicable to terrorist offenses is raised by one degree compared to ordinary law.

Thus “the maximum of the custodial sentence incurred for the offenses mentioned is increased: to life imprisonment when the offense is punished by thirty years of criminal imprisonment;

to thirty years of criminal imprisonment when the offense is punished by twenty years of criminal imprisonment ”, etc., according to article 421-3 of the Penal Code.

Special Assize Court

This is an exception from French law.

The special assize court (because it is specially composed) is competent to rule on crimes committed in the area of ​​terrorism and drug trafficking in an organized gang.

Unlike the usual assize courts, it does not bring together a non-professional jury (citizens drawn by lot), but only professional judges.

They are 7 in first instance and 9 in appeal.

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The special assize court judges about ten cases per year.

"Each hearing lasts at least five days and can be prolonged [...] depending on the complexity of the case and the number of defendants tried," explains Ulrika Weiss, deputy general at the Paris Court of Appeal, on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

When it was created in 1982, this court was intended to try only crimes committed by the military.

Its powers were extended to terrorism cases by the law of September 9, 1986.

That year, “the Paris Assize Court was sitting to judge acts of terrorism (

Editor's note: members of the Direct Action group

) and, during the hearing, jurors were threatened by the accused, explains Ulrika Weiss.

The day after the threats, some jurors refused to sit and the trial had to be postponed.

This is the reason which led the legislator to have the crimes of terrorism tried by professional magistrates.

"

Criminal criminal gangs association

At the trial of the January 2015 attacks, one of the defendants appeared free under judicial supervision for simple “criminal association”.

The other defendants are mainly tried for "criminal association of terrorist criminals" and risk twenty years of imprisonment.

"The criminal association"

is "an offense created in the nineteenth century to control anarchists," said the Parisian Delphine Meillet, lawyer at the Paris bar.

It designates a group of at least two people who come together to commit one or more crimes, or one or more offenses.

“The only requirement posed by the Penal Code seems to be the seriousness of the offense.

This must be a felony or misdemeanor punishable by at least five years of imprisonment, ”notes the law firm ACI, specialists in criminal law.

Mere discussion is not enough to constitute the offense.

The preparation must be characterized by one or more material facts.

The penalty incurred by a person guilty of participating in a criminal association depends on the prepared offense.

If the latter is punished by at least five years of imprisonment, then the accused risks a prison sentence of five years and a fine of 75,000 euros.

“Criminal association of terrorist criminals”

concerns agreements aimed at committing terrorist acts.

It is more severely repressed.

Article 421-5 al 1 punishes these facts with ten years' imprisonment and a fine of 225,000 euros.

The accused at the head of the group, who direct or organize it, face more serious penalties.

Article 421-5 al 2 thus provides for thirty years of criminal imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 euros.

Complicity in terrorist crimes

The "complicity" of terrorist crimes was retained against two defendants of the trial of the attacks of January 2015. It is the heaviest charge: it is punishable by life imprisonment.

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To be an “accomplice” consists in bringing aid or assistance to the commission of a crime or an offense.

The accomplice incurs the same penalties as the perpetrator of the offense.

"Thus, we do not only punish the person who holds the gun, but also the one who provided him with the weapon and showed him how to use it", develops the Parisian criminal lawyer.

What is the difference with the criminal association?

“If we host someone who is going to prepare an attack, we will limit ourselves to an act of complicity.

But if you take an active part in logistics, in the organization of transport, that you are part of a network where you know that your role is to find accommodation, then we are in the criminal association ” , specifies the lawyer.

Financing of terrorism

The financing of terrorism "consists in raising funds for acts of terror", explain the lawyers of the firm ACI.

“To do this, he resorts to all legal or criminal means (donations, corporate profits and criminal trafficking).

"

These facts are punishable by ten years' imprisonment and a fine of 225,000 euros.

The attempt is punishable by the same penalties.

Hayat Boumeddiene, companion of Hyper Cacher terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, is suspected of having committed several scams on behalf of his companion before his crimes.

She is therefore referred to justice for both "terrorist financing" and "terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing one or more crimes".

She risks thirty years of criminal imprisonment.

Source: leparis

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