Trial before the Paris Special Court for his role in the attack “Charlie Hebdo” January 2015 and his activities within Al-Qaeda, veteran of French jihadism Peter Cherif sentenced to life imprisonment, Thursday.
Jihadist Peter Cherif was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for his role in Yemen with Chérif Kouachi, one of the attackers in the attack on Charlie Hebdo in 2015, and for the kidnapping of three humanitarian workers in 2011.
The Special Junior Court of Paris found him guilty of all charges against him. She combined the life sentence with a security period of 22 years, in accordance with the demands of the national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office.
The president of the court, Frédérique Aline, explained that this decision had been taken “in view of the gravity of the facts” reproached, and the “danger” by Peter Cherif. The latter remained inconsolable when the verdict was announced.
For three weeks, the jihad veteran, a 42-year-old man whose father was from Guadeloupe, appeared for criminal terrorist associations between 2011 and 2018, the period of his presence in Yemen within Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqpa).
Peter Cherif (centre) gets out of a car as he is being extradited to France at Djibouti international airport on December 22, 2018.
He was accused of joining the ranks of this jihadist organization and, in this context, of having participated in the training of his childhood friend Chérif Kouachi in the attack carried out on January 7, 2015 at the satirical newspaper. Charlie Hebdoin which 12 people were murdered. AQAP claimed the attack.
“The court kept your role as a facilitator, as a integrator of Chérif Kouachi with Aqpa”declared the president, specifying that he was “the only French” within the jihadist organization during Chérif Kouachi’s stay in the summer of 2011 in Yemen. “You obviously knew the mission he was entrusted with”she said, emphasizing that the two men had maintained ties after Chérif Kouachi returned to France.
He was also seen for the organized seizure of gangs in 2011, for more than five months, of three French nationals, members of the NGO Triangle Generation Humanitarian. “These are the only facts you admitted for the first time at the hearing”observed the magistrate.
During the trial, Peter Cherif used his right to remain silent most of the time, a strategy that the civil parties resented. His mother, who called him to testify at the bar during this trial, had particularly encouraged him to speak out. But he preferred to wall himself in silence.
However, he admitted that he was one of the jailers of the three humanitarian workers, having served as “translator” to interface between the Hostages and their Yemeni Al-Qaeda captors. On the other hand, he denied that he had a role in the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
In their submissions on Wednesday, the two attorneys general painted a portrait of a “core jihadist” who was “the cornerstone of preparation” of the attack on Charlie Hebdo. Defense lawyers criticized, for their part “fixed game”in pleas that sometimes caused discomfort in the courtroom.
“Did this trial answer the questions of the civil parties?”asked Me Nabil El Ouchikli. “Perhaps one of the reasons for Peter Cherif’s silence or speaking out from time to time is that he does not have these answers”he said.
His colleague, Mise Sefen Guez Guez, announced after announcing his judgment “disappointment”to believe we were “In almost exclusive use of extremely serious facts deductions made from silence, emptiness, absence”. He indicated that he would study with his client the possibility of appealing next week.
“We are not satisfied with life imprisonment, but the fact is that the jihadist commitment of Peter Cherif is exceptional”for his declaration I Richard Malka, lawyer of Charlie Hebdo.
According to him, his commitment “fanatic” didn’t happen “Denial, not even at the hearing: he didn’t explain anything, we couldn’t understand, there was no hope”. “This sanction is 20 years of mistakes, preferably from death to love, from violence to peace”the council considered.