The trial of jihadist Tyler Vilus, a former official of the Islamic State organization, opened on Thursday in Paris. One of the first French to join the ranks of Daesh assumes to have left for Syria to "fight", but says that it has nothing to do with the development of the Paris attacks in November 2015.

He is one of the first French people to go to fight in Syria in 2012: Tyler Vilus, a former executive of the Islamic State organization, has appeared since Thursday morning before the special assize court for terrorism in Paris. On the first day of his trial, this 30-year-old man was talkative, except when talking about his specific role in the abuses committed by the terrorist group.

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"In Syria to fight"

At ease in the box, rasta braids and goatee, the thirty-something from Troyes skillfully dilutes his responsibilities in his logorrhea and tells everything in the smallest detail. Converted to Islam in 2011, he fully assumed his jihadist engagement in Tunisia and then against Bashar al-Assad, in Syria. "I was going to Syria to fight, not to do humanitarian work," he said.

But when describing his exact role in the Islamic State organization, Tyler Vilus becomes almost modest. Yes, he was a member of a "katiba", a group of fighters, but he did not lead it at all. He was simply the representative when there were problems, he explains. As for his central presence on a video of the execution of two civilians, which today makes him incur life imprisonment, he claims "a simple passage on the street, like everyone else, at the exit of the mosque".

"Already in prison" on November 13, 2015

Tyler Vilus ends by evoking for himself the "allegations" of the DGSI on his links with the members of the commando of November 13. Admittedly, he was arrested in Turkey while seeking to return to Europe. Yes, he was in contact with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Paris terrorist attack coordinator. "But the other terrorists, I crossed them once, maximum two," he rejects. "Anyway, when there were the attacks, I was already in prison."

Find here the live-tweet from our journalist at the trial of Tyler Vilus:

#Vilus the hearing resumes at the trial of Tyler Vilus, among the 1st French to have left for Syria and suspected of having been an important executive of Daesh.

- Salomé Legrand (@Salome_L) June 25, 2020