Facade of the Paris Court of Appeal (illustrative image).

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THOMAS SAMSON / AFP

His lawyer William Bourdon describes him as "a nice kid".

The Advocate General, for his part, considered that he had "played the sorcerer's apprentice".

The latter also required two years' imprisonment against this 26-year-old student from Douarnenez (Finistère).

Judged since Wednesday by the Special Assize Court of Paris for "association of criminals with a view to preparing acts of terrorism", this anthropology student had created in July 2016 a discussion group on the Telegram messaging service.

He relayed the propaganda of the Islamic State group there, posing as a candidate for jihad or by inviting his interlocutors to go to Syria.

To investigators who arrested him in 2016, he said he wanted to conduct "an ethnography of the Islamic State and radical Islam".

"He could have stopped multiple times, but did nothing," said the Advocate General.

During the two months that his group was active, the young man had physically met a jihadist in the Bois de Boulogne.

He was also flirting with Rachid Kassim, French recruiter for the Islamic State group and alleged instigator of the attacks in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Seine-Maritime) and Magnanville (Yvelines).

For its part, the defense claims that the student suffers from "bipolar disorder".

"The disease is part of the explanation but not the only explanation", insisted the Advocate General.

The accused had first benefited from a dismissal during the investigation before being finally returned to the assizes.

A Polynesian was ready to take action

The man on trial next to him, a 24-year-old Polynesian, whom the student had met, saw a sentence of twelve years of criminal imprisonment be required against him.

Unlike the Breton student, the young Tahitian, also without a criminal record, had declared himself ready to take action.

"I am going to do an act that will make Allah smile," he said on Telegram messaging.

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  • Jihadism

  • Radical Islamism

  • Assize court

  • Paris

  • Student

  • Justice