Sid-Ahmed Ghlam nor his involvement in the murder of Aurélie Châtelain, during the abortive attack in Villejuif.

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SEEN LAURENT / SIPA

A version of the incredible facts.

“I don't remember”, “it's a possibility”, “I don't know”, Sid-Ahmed Ghlam, tried this Friday for the abortive attack on a church in Villejuif and the murder of Aurélie Châtelain in 2015, denied all these accusations against him.

He claims to have given up at the last moment to his plan for an attack which, according to him, was only intended to "scare" the parishioners.

As for the assassination of Aurélie Châtelain, a 32-year-old fitness teacher, it would be the work of a certain "Abou Hamza", an accomplice of which no one has ever found traces.

No trace of the call to the famous Abu

And the version of the latter does not stick.

He thus recounts having telephoned this “Abu Hamza” the day before the planned attack, to meet him the next morning in a parking lot in Villejuif in Val-de-Marne.

However, investigators have found no trace of this call but Sid-Ahmed Ghlam does not budge.

According to his story, on Sunday morning April 19, in a deserted parking lot, the famous “Abu Hamza” joined him by scooter.

The two men, who have never seen each other, chat a little.

"Hamza" explains to Ghlam that he is going to steal a car - the Algerian student not wanting to go to church with his own vehicle.

Still according to Ghlam's version, "Hamza" opens one of his bags and takes a pistol.

"Abu Hamza" would have shot "by accident" on the young woman

“Why take a gun to steal a car,” the president wonders.

“I don't know,” Ghlam stammered… “I thought it was to break the window” of the vehicle.

The president insists.

"Here is a man that you have never seen and you let him take a loaded gun ...".

"I took him for a man sent by my sponsor and he was not going to send me a madman", answers Sid-Ahmed Ghlam.

Still according to Sid-Ahmed Ghlam, after a while, "Abu Hamza" returns to the wheel of a car and the student distinguishes a passenger at his side.

"I wanted to warn my sponsor that there was a third person… but I heard a gunshot".

"Abu Hamza" allegedly shot the young woman "by accident".

“But for what reasons?

“, Wants to know the president.

"I am not in (his) head", answers Ghlam, who evokes a "lack of understanding".

Ghlam says he "intentionally" shot himself in the thigh

According to the student's version, "Hamza" then left quietly on a scooter.

"Here is a man who comes to commit carnage in a church and who leaves immediately after having killed a young woman ...", asks the president.

"It is the first time that I saw a deceased person in real life", explains Sid-Ahmed Ghlam who will only pronounce once, almost inadvertently, the name of Aurélie Châtelain.

He claims to have decided then to give up "to take action" and to have "voluntarily" shot himself in the thigh with the murder weapon.

"I wanted to break with the Islamic State ... by injuring myself I avoided suffering their reprisals" for not having committed the planned attack, he says.

"How did this gesture avoid their reprisals?"

», Asks the court.

“It was a possibility,” the student answers evasively.

Samy Amimour behind “Abou Hamza”

On December 15, 2015, a month after the attacks of November 13, Sid-Ahmed Ghlam will assure investigators that behind the pseudonym "Abu Hamza" was in fact hiding Samy Amimour, one of the attackers of Bataclan on the evening of November 13, 2015. Strange, remarks Antoine Casubolo-Ferro, lawyer of the family of Aurélie Châtelain.

Samy Amimour's "kounya" (nickname) was not "Abu Hamza" but "Abu al-Qital al-Faransi" ... Above all, he adds, we know that at the time of the events, Samy Amimour was in Syria where he was preparing his marriage.

In the box, Sid-Ahmed Ghlam does not flinch.

Samy Amimour was bald, recalls Gérard Chemla, another lawyer for civil parties.

However, at no time during his police custody and at the start of his detention, Sid-Ahmed Ghlam gave this detail to investigators.

"You only remember what suits you", annoys the lawyer.

Sid-Ahmed Ghlam remains impassive.

Christian Benoit, lawyer for the accused, recalls that his client had the possibility of committing his attack but that he did not do it.

“Yes, I had all the possibilities,” says Sid-Ahmed Ghlam.

Justice

Missed Villejuif attack: "An act?

Can't say attack?

», Asks a lawyer to Sid-Ahmed Ghlam

Justice

Missed Villejuif attack: "I could not remain indifferent ..." Sid-Ahmed Ghlam recounts his express radicalization

  • Aurélie Chatelain

  • Trial

  • Villejuif

  • Sid ahmed ghlam

  • Attack

  • Society