Amar Ramdani, a relative of Coulibaly accused at the trial of the January 2015 attacks, was questioned this Wednesday, October 7, 2020. -

Benoit PEYRUCQ / AFP

  • Fourteen people have been tried since September 2 by the special assize court, suspected of having provided assistance to the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly.

  • Since Monday, the special assize court began questioning the eleven defendants present, three others being tried by default.

  • Amar Ramdani, Coulibaly's friend met during their incarceration in Villepinte prison, was questioned for nearly five hours.

At the special assize court in Paris,

Everyone agrees that Amar Ramdani is an “intelligent” man.

At 39 years old, one of the eleven defendants present in the box at the trial of the January attacks demonstrated this during his interrogation on Wednesday.

For five hours, this close friend of Amedy Coulibaly met in 2013 during their joint detention at Villepinte remand center did not blink in the face of questions from the special assize court.

Accused of having provided logistical assistance to the killer of Montrouge and the Hypercacher, Amar Ramdani maintained that he had no knowledge of his friend's terrorist plans and that he did not intervene in the preparation of these attacks.

Particularly at ease in front of magistrates and sometimes bordering on insolence with the lawyers of the civil party, this man of Algerian origin arrived in France at the age of 6 years, however, did not manage to enlighten the court on certain shadow areas of the folder.

Modulating some of his explanations over the course of the investigation and systematically refusing to "balance" elements on his knowledge involved in the case, Ramdani portrayed an image of Coulibaly poles apart from the terrorist who appeared on our television screens on January 8, 2015 .

"Colleagues" become "friends"

Incarcerated in different buildings, Amedy Coulibaly and Amar Ramdani meet in the laundry room of Villepinte prison where both work during their detention.

“At the beginning, he was my work colleague and later, over time, we created affinities and we became friends (…) He told me that he had grown up in Grigny, at the large terminal, that he had nine sisters, that his parents still lived together, he told me about his imprisonments, (...) he did not tell about his robberies to glorify himself or to give himself importance, on the contrary, basically they were mistakes, ”remembers the 30-something.

At the time, Coulibaly was described as "helpful", "serious" and "smart enough not to get into trouble and trouble" according to the accused.

Amedy Coulibaly never hid his religious practice, but nothing in his behavior would have made it possible to detect his radicalization, he explains: "When I saw him outside, he was not wearing the qamis, he was dressed in Dolce Gabana the guy ”.

Coulibaly's anti-Semitism, Ramdani has not witnessed.

And his attraction to jihadism was not conceivable, he continues.

Marked by the black decade in Algeria, Amar Ramdani explains: “I told him that in Amedy (…) if there had been an allusion to Islamist terrorism, he knew that he and I were over.

"

Gray areas and contradictions

On several occasions, the man has confided his "repulsion" of jihadism.

Yet to meet them, Amedy Coulibaly is in pre-trial detention for his involvement in a terrorist procedure.

Asked about this by the Advocate General, Amar Ramdani explains: “I don't catalog people, I don't put them in boxes.

When he told me about his history of terrorism, I listened (…) he told me that he had nothing to do with it.

”Released in July 2013, Amar Ramdani maintains contact by telephone with his“ brother ”who is still imprisoned.

A relationship that will continue until the day before the attacks.

On January 5 and 6, 2015, the two men called and saw each other.

Ramdani owes 200 euros to Coulibaly who reminds him of his debt.

To the investigating magistrates, the accused will say that he did not notice anything surprising in his behavior.

"He was tactile," he will simply note.

So when the face of his friend appears on television after the assassination of the Montrouge policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe and the attack on the Porte de Vincennes, Amar Ramdani is ringing: "I was in the dark, as if someone one had put a big blow with a stick in the back of my head.

I did not understand (...) His actions were not in adequacy with the person that I knew ”.

His ex-wife, gendarme at the time of the facts, confirms at the bar: “He was like extinct.

He said to me: "Do you see the guy on TV? I know him."

He was in a state of shock (…) and did not understand what was happening ”.

Ramdani seeks advice from her and others close to her.

“I don't react like a friend, but like a cop.

I ask him: "How long have you known him? When did you see him? How long before? Did you help him in any way? He said no to me," "explains the young woman.

On the evening of January 9, the accused - like one of his friends also sent to the Assize Court - destroyed the chip on his phone and the phone with which he was exchanging with Coulibaly. 

A "stupid" reaction

"A reflex" that he regrets today but justifies by the "fear" felt then: "What he did was extraordinary.

I know very well that all the police officers in France will be on this file and that is normal.

(…) I don't want them to come back to me because I don't want any fuss (…) It was a stupid reaction but it was the reaction of someone who is panicked.

"

But other elements of the file disturb the investigators.

On several occasions, Amar Ramdani went with one of the accused, Saïd Makhlouf, to the north of France.

For the prosecution, these trips could have been used to provide weapons to Coulibaly.

A version denied at the hearing by Ramdani but which evolved during the investigation.

"We were going to see prostitutes" he will say at first before referring to drug trafficking that has long been overlooked because he refused to "swing".

"You are accused of having provided logistical support to Coulibaly in the search for and supply of weapons" said Ramdani's lawyer.


- "These weapons, have you seen them?"

asks St Palais


- "Never"


- "Did you touch them?"


- "Never" # AttentatsJanvier2015

- helenesergent (@helenesergent) October 7, 2020

Pugnacious, the Advocate General nevertheless emphasizes that during one of these trips back and forth in the North in December 2014, Amar Ramdani refused to accompany Saïd Makhlouf.

"I didn't want to", loose the accused.

Why, asks the magistrate.

"There was no particular reason, I didn't want to accompany him".

Visibly uncomfortable, he concludes in direction of Makhlouf: "It is to him that we must ask the question".

His interrogation is scheduled just this Friday.

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