The trial of Reda Kriket, the alleged instigator of an attack plan foiled just before Euro 2016 in France, opens Monday for a month.
He is appearing alongside six other defendants, as investigators believe they were on the verge of a major attack.
He was arrested two days after the murderous attacks in Brussels in March 2016. The trial of Reda Kriket, mastermind of an attack plan foiled before Euro 2016, opens Monday and for a month before the Court of Paris special meeting.
Tried for criminal terrorist conspiracy, this repeat offender is appearing alongside six other defendants.
For the authorities there is no doubt: he was on the verge of committing a large-scale attack in France, like those which struck Europe during this period, which could have been as deadly if not more than that from 13-November.
A gigantic arsenal of war found at Reda Kriket
A few weeks before Euro 2016 football, the police had discovered a war arsenal of unprecedented magnitude in an apartment that Reda Kriket rented in Argenteuil, in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Inside: 7 handguns, 6 automatic weapons, explosives, knives, or even 11,000 metal balls.
For investigators, Reda Kriket was at the head of a group ready to take action, called "the Argenteuil cell".
Their target: possibly Euro 2016, or the district of La Défense where two of the protagonists of the trial would have scouted.
But the investigation did not demonstrate this with certainty since none of the accused gave real explanations.
Only Reda Kriket ended up saying he wanted to rob dealers.
For the authorities, however, there is no doubt that the Argenteuil team was linked in one way or another to the Paris and Brussels commandos.
By their supposed stay in Syria and their contacts with senior officials of the Islamic State responsible for organizing the attacks in Europe.
In 2015, Reda Kriket was convicted in his absence in Belgium in the same case as a certain Abdelhamid Abaaoud, coordinator of the attacks of November 13.