The Paris Special Assize Court delivered its verdict on Thursday in the foiled Thalys attack and sentenced the four defendants to terms ranging from life imprisonment to 7 years imprisonment. Its president detailed at length the motivations which allowed the court to end up with the guilt and the sentences pronounced against the four men in the box of the accused.
In August 2015, Ayoub El Khazzani, the 25-year-old gunman at the time, boarded the Thalys Amsterdam-Paris at Brussels station armed with a Kalashnikov, a pistol and a cutter, and 300 ammunition. It had been disarmed by train passengers, including American soldiers.
Ayoub El Khazzani, life imprisonment
The Thalys gunman, 25 years old at the time of the facts, was sentenced to the maximum penalty, life imprisonment, for “criminal terrorist association” and “attempted terrorist assassinations”.
Regarding the association of terrorist criminals, the court noted that the Moroccan Ayoub El Khazzani was radicalized at least 2014-2015 and that he adhered to the theses of the jihadist organization Daesh, which he had also joined in the Iraqi-Syrian zone in 2015. Returned to Europe by the Balkan route, in all “discretion”, according to the court, Ayoub El Khazzani’s mission was to carry out attacks there, as Abdelhammid Abaaoud had asked him, also preparer the attacks of November 13 in Paris and Saint-Denis.
Regarding the terrorist assassination attempt, “the court was by no means convinced by Ayoub El Khazzani’s explanations according to which, ‘psychologically destroyed’ after having met the gaze of Spencer Stone (one of the American soldiers who disarmed, Editor’s note), he could not have completed his deadly project “.
“Ayoub El Khazzani never mentioned having withdrawn nor expressed regret or even remorse over his act”, further notes the court, which emphasizes “that it is only thanks to heroic interventions “passengers whom the terrorist” has been able to control and put out of harm’s way “.
“This deadly project ultimately (failed) only by a combination of improbable circumstances linked to the ballistic problems that the perpetrator encountered but above all, and first of all, (thanks) to the exceptional courage shown by certain passengers “, note the magistrates.
Bilal Chatra, 27 years in prison
The court sentenced Bilal Chatra, considered by the prosecution to be the scout who guided Ayoub El Khazzani and Abdelhamid Abaaoud between Syria and Belgium. This Algerian receives a sentence of 27 years of criminal imprisonment, with a two-thirds security period, for acts relating to the criminal terrorist association and for complicity in attempted terrorist assassinations.
The court notes that he had joined Syria at the end of 2014, that he had pledged allegiance to the jihadist organization Islamic State, of which he had joined the ranks. Within Daesh, he notably followed a religious then military training, in particular a specialization in marksmanship “which had notably earned him the kouny (the fighter’s name, editor’s note) of ‘Abu Hamza the sniper'”.
The court considered that he had served as a scout for Ayoub El Khazzani and Abdelhammid Abaaoud in their ascent of the Balkan route, “the first step in the preparation of the Thalys attack”. She was “not at all convinced by his explanations according to which he was unaware that Abaaoud was going to commit an attack in Europe while being very close to him, for which he was also indebted, he had been around him for several months”.
“He was aware of the planned attack even if he did not know the details of the realization”, continues the court, which also relies on an SMS sent by the accused to Abaaoud (“a succession of ’emojis: a finger raised to the sky, a pistol and a bomb, followed by the expression’ boom ‘”), to dismantle” without ambiguity the knowledge he had of the terrorist end goal of the journey started “by Abaaoud and El Khazzani.
Mohamed Bakkali, 25 years of criminal imprisonment
Mohamed Bakkali, “driver” of the jihadists and also alleged logistician of November 13, was sentenced to 25 years of criminal imprisonment, with a security period of two thirds. The Belgian was also condemned for “complicity in attempted terrorist assassinations”.
The court emphasizes that the accused “shared the radical ideology of the El Bakraoui brothers (who died in the Brussels attacks of March 22, 2016, Editor’s note)”.
The magistrates rely on telephone exchanges and geolocation data to demonstrate that Bakkali is indeed the driver who went to pick up Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the conveyor from Budapest to Brussels, then El Khazzani and Chatra from Cologne to Brussels.
Redouane El Amrani Ezzerrifi, 7 years imprisonment
Finally, a 7-year prison sentence was pronounced against the last accused, the Moroccan Redouane El Amrani Ezzerrifi, smuggler who helped Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
He was convicted of criminal terrorist association, facts which he partially admitted at the hearing. “Redouane El Amrani Ezzerrifi, who rubbed shoulders with Abaaoud, could not ignore his membership of the terrorist organization Islamic State”, notes the court, which also notes that the behavior of the accused had changed and had become “more religious than before in contact of Abaaoud (…) which may translate an adherence to the values ”of Daesh.
In contact with Abaaoud in the spring of 2015, he notably used a code in one of his messages in which he referred to Spain (“in reality Syria”, the court noted, and as the prosecution had shown in audience). “This code used in the messages alone demonstrated the perfect knowledge that (the accused) had of the illegality of the process, especially since at the time he was fully aware of Abaaoud’s terrorist activities. “, indicates the special court of assizes.
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