This 41-year-old Algerian, in a wheelchair since the bullet wounds received during his arrest, is appearing for "attempted assassinations on persons holding public authority in connection with a terrorist enterprise".
On August 9, 2017, he injured six soldiers from Operation Sentinel, three of them seriously, by rushing at them behind the wheel of his car in front of their local in Levallois-Perret, before fleeing.
Hamou Benlatreche has always maintained that he was the victim of discomfort and lost control of his vehicle, a line of defense that he will resume during the trial, his lawyer, Laeka Valimamode, told AFP.
But for the prosecution as for the civil parties, the facts, which occurred in the midst of a wave of jihadist attacks in France, bear the mark of the attacks recommended by the Islamic State (IS) group.
Two medical expertises also deemed his explanation implausible.
The wounded soldiers wait for the accused "to assume his act", declared their lawyer Me Laurent-Franck Lienard to AFP before the start of the hearing.
"He injured several soldiers, he almost killed some (...) justice must be intractable".
According to him, "most of them have left" the army today.
"They were brutally mown, with the most extreme cowardice, from the back. They could not respond and that is the hardest part for them," he explained.
The trial is scheduled to last two weeks.
© 2021 AFP