The judges in charge of the investigation into the abortive attack in Villejuif on April 19, 2015, which cost the life of a young fitness teacher, have completed their investigations, AFP learned Friday from a judicial source, confirming information from the Parisian .
More than four years after the events, the magistrates announced it on July 26th to the parties, opening a month delay for their observations and for the requisitions of the national antiterrorist prosecution (PNAT).
Trial in 2020 or 2021
The PNAT must now give its opinion on the dismissal or not to sit the main suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, and seven men suspected of bringing him weapons or equipment and be linked, for some, to the radical Islamist movement . Before the final decision of the investigating judge and a trial in 2020 or 2021.
Sid Ahmed Ghlam, Algerian student then aged 23 and stuck S for his radicalization, is suspected of having wanted to attack that day a church of Villejuif, south of Paris, at the time of the mass. But, according to the prosecution, he gave up his project and called for help because he had accidentally shot himself in the leg after killing Aurélie Châtelain, crossed the parking lot where he was preparing his assault.
Sid Ahmed Ghlam denies this murder, assuring that she was accidentally killed by a mysterious accomplice of which he is the only one to affirm the existence. A thesis deemed by the investigators to be unconvincing.
Sponsored by the Islamic State
He also claims to have voluntarily refitted and mutilated to prevent the attack. However, he admitted to having been telegraphed by the Islamic State (IS) group: the police quickly deciphered his exchanges with two IS commanders, Abu Moutana and Amirouche, who instructed him to find "a good church with the world ".
Investigators believe that behind these names are two veterans of jihad, targeted for two years by arrest warrants but presumed dead in Iraq-Syria: Abdelnasser Benyoucef, trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and linked to the Islamist Group of fighters Moroccans (GICM), and Samir Nouad, considered as one of the principals of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the coordinator of the attacks of November 13, 2015. The name of Fabien Clain, voice of the claim of November 13, deemed dead in February in Syria, also appeared in the survey.
One question remains unanswered: was the target of Villejuif part of a vast plan of action in Europe of the jihadist group, before the attack of a Thalys in August 2015 and the murderous raids of 13-November in the capital and in Saint-Denis? At the time, France had entered the era of the jihadist threat for three months with the attacks of Charlie Hebdo, Montrouge and the Hyper Cacher in January.