While the manhunt continues Thursday in France, the German police is also closely interested in Cherif Chekatt, the alleged perpetrator of the Strasbourg bombing perpetrated Tuesday night. An investigation was opened Thursday in Germany against Cherif Chekatt and his brother Sami, with whom he could have fled.
A suspicious phone call from Germany. The question is whether the two men have links with German Islamist circles, networks, or perhaps accomplices in the country, reports Europe 1 correspondent in Germany Hélène Kohl. Just before taking action Tuesday night, Cherif Chekatt received a phone call from Germany, for which he did not pick up, but intriguing across the Rhine. And the German authorities remain on the alert, in case the shooter has managed to cross the border in his flight on the evening of the attack.
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Sentenced to prison in Germany. Especially since the man is not unknown to the German justice: Cherif Chekatt was sentenced in 2016 to two years and three months in prison for two burglaries committed in the south of the country, near the French border. His German lawyer told Europe 1 that Cherif Chekatt was probably a regular commute between the two countries. He did not give him any address in the country, and he did not speak German at all, he told us.
The German authorities did not know that it was stuck. In early 2017, while he was serving half of his sentence, Cherif Chekatt asked for a provision allowing him to complete his detention in France. During his stay in prison on the other side of the Rhine, he had not shown any signs of radicalization and, disturbingly, the German authorities did not know that he was already at the time of his imprisonment stuck in S and registered in the file of the reports for Terrorist prevention and radicalization in France.