- Tyler Vilus is the first French accused of murder committed in Syria to appear before the special assize court. He is also suspected of having led a group of combatants there.
- Her mother, Christine Rivière, was sentenced on appeal in 2018 to 10 years of imprisonment for having gone to Syria and having encouraged the arrival of several young women.
- Mother and son have a close relationship. Investigators unearthed thousands of messages.
After more than an hour of hearing, Tyler Vilus' nerves let go. He, who since the opening of his trial before the specially composed assize court had shown composure, cannot bear to see the Advocate General pressing his mother, Christine Rivière, with questions. "It's hard work, she has already been tried for that," he leaps into the box. Six years since mother and son had not seen each other and this Monday, they do not leave the glance. The last time was in April 2014, during the third and last trip to Syria of the woman nicknamed "Mamie jihad". Since then, the 50-year-old has been sentenced to ten years in prison. Tyler Vilus, suspected of murder in Syria and of having assumed the role of emir and faces life imprisonment.
Mother and son have always had a close relationship. Him, this cadet who chained hospital stays before he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. He, whose father is not "easy" - a euphemism, not to say violent - and who took the path of delinquency from adolescence. To hear Christine Rivière testify on Monday, everything changed in 2011, after her conversion. “When he entered Islam, he became someone better. The President ticks. "You know that, given what is criticized, it could be misinterpreted." Arms crossed at the helm, dressed in a large black T-shirt, she specifies, almost as evidence. "He stopped smoking, drinking alcohol. A year later, she too converted. "He did not try to influence or force me," she assures the court.
“Vacation” in Syria
When Tyler Vilus left to live in Syria in March 2013, after having already stayed there, she went back and forth, three in one year, the longest of which lasted three and a half months. "Vacation," she explains, "to go see my son. "On the spot, she cohabits with the latter's two wives and leads" a normal family life, cooking, cleaning, we laugh. The investigations will show that it is, in reality, much less passive than it claims, notably facilitating the arrival of young women in the area. A life where weapons also have a preponderant place to believe the different photos of her or her stepdaughters posing with semi-automatic machines broadcast in front of the court.
But, this Monday, impossible to remember his activities on site or even more, those of his son. "I do not remember", "I do not know", "maybe" ... she tirelessly answered the president's questions. Relying on the thousands of messages exchanged between Vilus and his mother, the magistrate tries to make him recover his memory. "In addition to being a cop, I became emir of a group of French people," he wrote in August 2013. "I knew you would come up, you are made for that," she replied. But this Monday, Christine Rivière prefers to pile up rather than to pronounce the slightest sentence that could harm her son. The departure of his son in Syria? "It was I who encouraged him to leave. The president is surprised. This is the first time in this entire procedure that she has made this type of statement. "He was in France, he did nothing ..."
"It's my mother, she doesn't know what to say"
By denying, she sometimes ends up contradicting him. At her trial, she recognized that her son wanted to die a martyr, "it would make him happy," she said. Asked this Monday about the return to Europe of her younger brother, she spoke of a desire to "go green". Investigators have however for a time suspected Tyler Vilus of being the 11th man in the attacks of November 13 without succeeding in establishing him formally. "Do you think she's going to corner me?" But it's my mother, she doesn't know what to say, ”summed up the accused before sending her an“ I love you ”. "I miss you too," she breathes.
The trial is scheduled to end on Friday.
Justice
Terrorism: At the trial of Tyler Vilus, the DGSI portrays an “extraordinary” jihadist with “multiple facets”
Justice
Jihad: "I was going to Syria to fight, not to do humanitarian work", recognizes Tyler Vilus at his trial
- Jihadism
- Trial
- Terrorism
- Paris
- Justice