Terrorist Attack in France: Manhunt, Opportunistic Claim, and Legal Repercussions

In barely ten minutes, the assailant coldly killed, during his wanderings in the streets of the center, five people and injured eleven others. He then gets into a taxi and asks the driver to take him to the Neudorf district. Having seen that he was injured, the driver Mostafa Salhane managed to convince him to stop to treat him. Once out of the vehicle, he takes advantage of a moment of inattention from Chérif Chekatt to get back behind the wheel and storms off towards the police station.

Opportunistic claim

Thanks to this information, investigators identify the murderer, a 29-year-old repeat offender, convicted 20 times in France for common law offenses and on S file for Islamist radicalization. Hunted, he was spotted in the Neudorf district and killed in an exchange of fire with police officers. The next day, the attack was claimed by the Daesh group. But quickly, the investigators evoked an opportunistic claim. A video of allegiance to Daesh was nevertheless found at his home on a USB key.

Subsequent investigations led to the indictment of five men suspected of having, to varying degrees, allowed the supply of weapons, including a 19th century revolver used during the attack, to Cherif Chekatt. All were referred to the special assize court of Paris but a severance was ordered after a medical assessment for one of them, aged 84, his state of health did not allow him to be present at the proceedings , particularly because of its duration. He could be tried, alone, later.

“Outlet”

The terrorist qualification was ultimately retained only for Audrey Mondjehi, a former cellmate of Chérif Chekatt, the only one of the accused who is still in pre-trial detention. This 42-year-old defendant will be tried for complicity in assassinations and attempted assassinations, particularly against persons holding public authority, all in relation to a terrorist enterprise, as well as for terrorist criminal association. He faces life imprisonment.

According to the order of the investigating judges, he played “an indispensable role in providing a weapon” to the assailant by putting him in contact with people who sold him weapons, while he “did not could ignore, or even share, all or part of Chérif Chekatt’s radical convictions. “Audrey Mondjehi should not be an outlet for the victims’ pain and should not be condemned because Chérif Chekatt is not there,” observes her lawyer, Me Michaël Wacquez. “He should not be the ideal culprit when he did not instigate anything in a terrorist context. »

Until April 5

Aged 34, 37 and 39, the three other accused, suspected of having participated in one way or another in the supply of weapons, will have to answer for criminal association with a view to the preparation of one or more crimes. They face 10 years of imprisonment. There was no evidence to establish that they had knowledge of the killer’s terrorist plan, according to the investigating magistrates.

2024-02-27 08:46:16
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