The verdict fell this Friday in the trial of the clandestine explosives workshop in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne).
Ali MR, the owner of the apartment where 300g of TATP and the ingredients to make much more were found, is sentenced to 19 years in prison with a two-thirds safety sentence.
His childhood friend Frédéric LC, who appeared on firing test videos, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a sanction again with the same period of safety.
The professional magistrates of the specially composed assize court of Paris almost followed the requisitions of the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) which had required respectively 20 years and 16 years against the two defendants.
On September 6, 2017, it was the foresight of a plumber commissioned to repair a leak in this building that made it possible to discover the existence of this workshop.
Intrigued to see several cans of chemicals and electrical wires, he warned the police.
The searches made it possible to get hold of large quantities of ingredients used in the preparation of TATP, Daesh's favorite explosive.
Arrested the same day, Ali MR, the owner of the apartment, immediately recognized his intention to commit violent action on national territory.
In the computer of this 39-year-old father, investigators had discovered numerous references to the Islamic State, a terrorist organization to which he however never swore allegiance.
His friend Frédéric LC, a 41-year-old convert also the father of three children, had also admitted the existence of this disastrous project.
"Not an attack plan but an idea of an attack"
At the hearing, the two men showed that they had hardly abandoned their radical vision of Islam, justifying the atrocities committed by Daesh in the Syrian-Iraqi zone.
Ali MR explained in particular that he was not particularly shocked by the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
As for Frédéric LC, he justified the use of Sharia law.
The two defendants did not dispute that they wanted to commit an attack.
"We said to ourselves that there might be something to do, that we were not going to stand idly by, explained Frédéric LC. For example, we thought about financing jihadist groups but we did not did not because we did not have the means.
There was this idea to leave but it did not happen.
We said to ourselves: at worst, we can carry out a kind of attack.
It was the last resort solution.
But yes, it was considered.
"
On the other hand, they assured that this hypothesis had remained at the virtual stage.
"It was not an attack plan but an idea of an attack, insisted Ali MR. The idea was the following: if I had to take action, would I be able to do it?
(…) But it remained in the imaginary mode.
"
Both men have the opportunity to appeal.
“My client accepts his sentence and intends to continue his reintegration efforts”, reacts Me Aurélie Bousquet, Frédéric LC's lawyer.
