Even if the assailants of the January 2015 attacks, all three killed after the attacks, will not be present, the trial will not be that of "little hands" and will be of no less interest, said the national anti-terrorism prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard, this Monday on Franceinfo.
The trial, which opens Wednesday in Paris has "a double interest": "Approaching the truth" and being "a moment of expression" for the victims, said Jean-François Ricard. "This is completely new: the first weeks of this trial will be devoted to the words of the victims," he said. "They will be able to explain, ask, try to understand and that is fundamental".
"Too much weight is attributed to the essential presence of direct authors"
Evoking the Kouachi brothers and Amédy Coulibaly, killed after the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks, Jean-François Ricard acknowledged that their absence was "a source of frustration" while inviting it to "relativize" in view of the previous ones. "Too much weight is attributed to the essential presence of direct authors in the box of the accused", underlined the magistrate. "Let us take from experience what happens when we have the direct perpetrators of attacks in the box of the accused: they remain either silent, or limit themselves to denials, or make provocations. Most of the time we don't know anything more, ”he said.
"It is often even more frustrating because there are sometimes real provocations towards the victims," he added. Fourteen defendants, three of whom are missing, must be tried by the special assize court. "I reject the idea that these are small hands, people without interests, it is an error of appreciation", continued Jean-François Ricard. According to the prosecutor, "these are individuals who are in the logistics, in the preparation of the facts, who have provided funding, operational equipment, weapons, a home ... All of this is essential for action. terrorist ”.
The terrorist threat still very important
The prosecutor also returned to the state of the Islamist terrorist threat. "The level of risk is still very important", also explained the magistrate. "First an exported threat, that is to say which comes mainly from the Iraqi-Syrian zone" where the Islamic State group "still holds the reins and still has colossal means to act". "We know, without being able to give more details, that a certain number of French nationals are still free in Syria or have crossed the border with Turkey", then detailed the prosecutor.
A second form of threat is constituted, according to him, by "nationals of states other than France and who are former ISIS" and "were able to cross the border and then set up new structures", in particular that of Brest dismantled at the end of January. Mohammad D., a refugee born in Syria and suspected of belonging to ISIS, was arrested there along with six other people. Finally “there is a third form of threat, it is the endogenous threat (…) inspired by Islamist ideology. It can affect people who are quite isolated ”and who sometimes present with mental problems. Since the beginning of the year, "several attacks [have] been thwarted, at least half a dozen", said the prosecutor.
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January 2015 attacks in Paris: "The trial is first and foremost the story of the victims, but it is also our common story"
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