Trial of the January 2015 attacks: the mysteries of a "world of thugs"

The Paris court for the opening of the trial of the 2015 attacks in France.

Thomas COEX / AFP

Text by: Marine de La Moissonnière Follow

5 mins

At the trial of the January 2015 attacks, the Paris Special Assize Court looked into the facts last week and tried to piece together the very complex puzzle of preparing for the attacks and determining who did what.

The court found itself plunged into a "world of thugs" to use the term used by a police officer.

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Listening to the investigators who have succeeded at the helm, we manage to get a representation of the world in which the defendants operate: a world of delinquents where drugs, cars and sometimes also weapons are trafficked.

A world where everyone has several phone lines, never in their own name, to compartmentalize their life and leave as few traces as possible.

Some even use their girlfriend's phone to confuse matters even more, and borrow their neighbor's car.

This universe, the investigators tried to probe all the mysteries of blows of blows of mobile telephony.

Thirty-seven million telephone data analyzed (who called who? When? Where?) To try to determine the links between the accused and the terrorists, their meetings, and therefore their involvement in the preparation of the attacks.

With all the same, and it should be emphasized, many gray areas that remain.

For example, the police did not succeed in establishing the link between the Lille native Claude Hermant, who imported into France some of the weapons used by Amedy Coulibaly, and the two defendants suspected of having gone to look for them in the North. .

Amedy Coulibaly, at the center of it all

The defendants in the box were mainly linked to Amedy Coulibaly.

Some were old acquaintances, neighborhood friends;

others, " 

 ", as they call themselves.

Incarcerated in the same prison between 2010 and 2014, they had been assigned to the laundry room.

Their sermons and religious behavior had earned them the nickname “

 ”.

But all of them claim "

" that Amedy Coulibaly was preparing to commit attacks.

Radicalized defendants?

The defendants say they are not radical Islamists.

Their lawyers often put it forward.

Me Marie Dosé, who defends Pastor Alwatik, insisted on this point on Friday during the hearing of Farid Benyettou, the former mentor of the Kouachi brothers who now says he is repented.

“ 

 , ”she told him.

►Also listen: Decryption - Trial of the January 2015 terrorist attacks: terrorism at the helm for History

However, according to investigators, several of the defendants were close to the Islamist movement, if not more.

Ali Riza Polat, “ 

 ” of Amedy Coulibaly according to the police, the only one tried for complicity in terrorist crimes and the only one to risk life imprisonment, notably left France on January 10, heading for Syria.

He will try several times to get there without ever succeeding.

He will probably have to explain it to the court.

The

The accused will in fact be questioned from today.

We have already heard a little from them since the start of the trial a month ago.

The president of the court gave them the floor on a few occasions, after the very poignant testimonies of the victims in particular.

They all said they were touched by the pain of the survivors and their loved ones.

And of course they condemned the attacks, "

 "

acts 

, they said.

At the start of the trial too, they were able to express themselves during the examination of their personalities.

All kept a low profile.

All but one: Ali Riza Polat, again him.

The only one who defies the court from his box.

He agitated, plague aloud, directly apostrophe the witnesses on the stand.

Thursday, October 1, when the arms dealer Claude Hermant, heard as a simple witness, complained of being a scapegoat, Ali Riza Polat exploded: “ 

 Ali Rizat Polat's hearing, scheduled for October 22, promises to be explosive.

►Also read: Trial of the January 2015 attacks: the media in question

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