12 men are being tried in the French capital, two of whom are suspected of having pledged allegiance to the “Islamic State” organization. They are also facing charges of planning an attack during the 2017 French presidential election campaign. The authorities arrested the main defendants, Clement Bour (30 years old) and Muhiddin Merabet (36 years old). Five days before the first round of the presidential elections on April 18 in Marseille.
Published on: 10/31/2023 – 01:02
5 minutes
The trial of 12 men began Monday before the Special Criminal Court in Paris, two of whom are suspected of having pledged allegiance “Islamic State” organizationThey also face charges of planning an attack during the 2017 French presidential election campaign.
The main defendants, Clement Bour (30 years old) and Mohieddine Merabet (36 years old), were arrested 5 days before the first round of the presidential elections on April 18 in Marseille.
Clement Bour said: “Standing before the criminal court is a complicated matter. Repeating what was said (during the trial that was aborted in January), in addition to talking about things that happened 7 years ago.”
For his part, Mohieddine Merabet confirmed that he never intended to “harm anyone.”
He said: “I did not kill, nor did I hurt anyone,” acknowledging that he bears “clear responsibility for what happened to him.”
“Maybe Dean”
Merabet confirmed that he had lived his period of pre-trial detention since April 2017 “as if it were a long torture,” considering that “perhaps he was already in debt.”
Another 10 men are on trial for participating in a terrorist criminal association, and are suspected of helping the duo obtain weapons and ammunition.
One of the defendants, Chechen Lum Ali Aldamov, did not attend the hearing and will therefore be tried in absentia. The Public Prosecution stated that he left the country “at least a year ago.”
Investigators believe that Clement Bour was frequenting the Verviers terrorist cell in Belgium, affiliated with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the commander of the operations that took place on November 13, 2015 in France, and claimed the lives of 130 people. He was also in contact with Anis Al-Amri in Germany, who carried out the truck attack on the Christmas market in Berlin in 2016, which killed 12 people.
Clement Bour and Mohieddine Mrabet hastened their downfall, after they attempted to contact ISIS via the Telegram platform to send a video clip containing their pledge of allegiance and responsibility for the attack they intended to carry out. But the video reached a secret agent working for the General Directorate of Internal Security in France.
The video showed dozens of ammunition displayed on a table in a way that read: “Retaliation Brigade,” along with a machine gun, an “Islamic State” organization flag, and the front page of Le Monde newspaper dated March 16, 2017, which bears a picture of right-wing candidate François Fillon. This is followed by a montage showing children who were victims of bombing operations in Syria.
A search of their hideout resulted in the seizure of the machine gun that was visible in the video, three pistols, and hundreds of ammunition.
Investigators also found more than 3.5 kilograms of TATP, an explosive substance popular with jihadists that was used during the September 13 attacks.
The use of digital media revealed extensive online searches for potential targets, such as clubs, bars and a rally for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen that was to be held in Marseille on April 19.
‘They must be blown up’
During the investigation, Mohieddine Mrabet, who hails from Roubaix (northern France), denied any plans to launch an attack, but admitted that he thought about “causing a noise” by detonating a homemade hand bomb near a Marine Le Pen gathering, indicating that he wanted to do so. “To intimidate”, without attacking civilians.
For his part, Clement Bour, who declared his ideological allegiance to the “Islamic State” organization, confirmed that he wanted to cause “only material damage” to institutional targets, as a retaliation for the bombing in Syria.
But the conversations that were intercepted without his knowledge while he was receiving visits in prison were of great benefit. He said: “Al-Baghdadi (the former leader of the Islamic State) is right, we should not talk to them, we should just blow them up.”
Bor’s life seems unusual. He was born in Val d’Oise and converted to Islam at the age of 14 or 15, through contact with the Chechen community in Nice, where he lived with his mother. He learned Russian himself, then Arabic.
At the age of 17, he left for Belgium, where he applied for asylum under a false identity for the first time, as this brilliant undercover person filed other asylum applications in France and Germany, pretending to be a Chechen refugee. Due to his possession of forged papers, he was imprisoned in Lille with Mohieddine Mrabet for weeks, where it is believed that they got to know each other.
After the trial was scheduled to take place at the beginning of the year, it was postponed due to the illness of the assistant judge, who could not be replaced due to the lack of sufficient numbers of judges.
Thus, the trial begins from scratch, and is scheduled to continue until December 1.
France 24/AFP
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2023-10-31 00:02:28
