Europe 1 with AFP 4:16 p.m., August 05, 2022

The anti-terrorist prosecutor's office on Friday requested the referral to the special assize court of a woman and six men belonging to the entourage of the author of the attacks in Trèbes and Carcassonne in March 2018, which had left four dead including Lieutenant- Colonel Arnaud Beltrame.

The anti-terrorist prosecutor's office on Friday requested the referral to the special assize court of a woman and six men belonging to the entourage of the author of the attacks in Trèbes and Carcassonne in March 2018, which had left four dead including Lieutenant- Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, learned AFP from a source familiar with the matter.

The investigations, which lasted four years, concluded that the assailant, Radouane Lakdim - killed on the spot - had acted without an accomplice but benefited from logistical and intellectual assistance in the preparation of his attacks, marked by the courageous gesture of Arnaud Beltrame.

The 45-year-old gendarme had given himself up as a hostage in place of a woman before being slaughtered.

Judgment for "participation in a criminal terrorist association"

The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) demands that the assailant's girlfriend and closest friend, Marine P., 24, and Samir M., 27, be tried for "participation in a criminal terrorist association" .

Sofian B., now 24 years old and already convicted when he was a minor for having planned to go to the Iraqi-Syrian zone in 2017, will have to be tried for having provided intellectual support to Radouane Lakdim, estimates the Pnat.

In its requisitions, consulted by AFP, the anti-terrorist prosecution claims that two other men be tried for "non-denunciation of a terrorist crime".

One of them, the author's brother-in-law, will also have to be tried for having cleaned the Lakdim's home, taking a large bag with him, before a search by the police, considers the Pnat.

Two other suspects will have to be judged for related offenses in particular the possession of weapons, asks the Pnat.

A dismissal requested for an information informant

The prosecution is also requesting a dismissal for an intelligence informant, indicted since 2019 for participation in a criminal terrorist association.

It is now up to the investigating judges to order or not a trial at the assizes by following or not the qualifications retained by the anti-terrorism prosecution.

A common law offender on file because of his radicalization, Radouane Lakdim stole a car in Carcassonne on the morning of March 23, 2018. Armed, he killed the 61-year-old passenger and injured the 26-year-old driver.

He then fired on a group of CRS (republican security companies) near their barracks, injuring one of them, before joining a Super U supermarket in Trèbes.

Presenting himself as a soldier of the Islamic State group and shouting "Allah Akbar", he killed a butcher, a customer and then Lieutenant-Colonel Beltrame.

IS had claimed responsibility for these attacks in the afternoon, a claim deemed "opportunistic" by the prosecution.

The investigations did not establish that Radouane Lakdim had had contact with the organization before taking action.