The trial of a 33-year-old Egyptian who attacked soldiers with a cry of "Allahou Akbar" in 2017 at the Carrousel du Louvre, opened on Monday before the special assize court in Paris.

Black T-shirt and beard visible under his anti-Covid protective mask, Abdalla el Hamahmi has declined his identity from the box of the accused.

He is appearing for "attempted terrorist assassinations on persons holding public authority" and "criminal terrorist association".

On February 3, 2017, this young commercial executive from a company from the United Arab Emirates rushes, armed with two machetes, towards four soldiers of the Sentinel device on patrol in the shopping arcade of the Louvre museum.

He slightly wounds one of them in the scalp before being seriously wounded by gunshot in the stomach by a retaliatory fire from one of the members of the patrol.

Unclaimed attack

The attack, which was part of the series of jihadist attacks shaking France since 2015, has not been claimed.

But the last tweet published by the assailant included a quote from a speech given by Abu Mohammad al Adnani, the former spokesperson for the Islamic State (IS) group.

During his interrogations, the accused, who initially presented himself as a supporter of ISIS before going back on his remarks, claimed to have acted alone, evoking a "personal project" and assuring not to belong to no movement.

He explained in particular that he initially wanted to take symbolic action against France, by degrading works in the Louvre museum with paint cans, found in his backpack.

The objective was, he said, to alert France and "the Western world" to the situation in Syria, "where children die daily".

The four soldiers are civil parties in the case, alongside the French association of victims of terrorism (AFVT).

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  • Sentinel operation

  • Louvre Museum

  • Terrorism

  • Justice

  • Trial

  • Attack