At the trial of Sid Ahmed Ghlam, life imprisonment required on appeal – archyde

At the appeal trial of Algerian student Sid Ahmed Ghlam, the requisitions are the same as at first instance. The maximum sentence, namely life imprisonment, was required on Monday, October 25, against the defendant, tried for the murder of a young woman and an abortive attack on a church in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne ), in April 2015.

The advocates general wanted this sentence to be accompanied by a security sentence of twenty-two years and a definitive ban from French territory at the end of his sentence. At first instance, Sid Ahmed Ghlam was sentenced to exactly this sentence.

Since then, the law has changed and provides in particular for security sentences of thirty years or effective life imprisonment, noted the advocates general before the special assize court in Paris, but it cannot apply to Sid Ahmed Ghlam, already judged before the promulgation of this law.

“Confessions that are not”

For the two advocates general of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), Sid Ahmed Ghlam is a “Man of extraordinary danger” who has a vision “Misguided and paranoid” of his religion. “Its objective was to sow terror”, they argued. During his appeal trial, Ghlam “Persevered in his lies in a perverse way”. “There is nothing to expect from him”, added the representatives of the PNAT. “He did not have the courage to take responsibility for his actions”, they lamented.

“Lying is part of how it works” and “He feeds a real hatred for the West”, they said again. Contrary to his trial at first instance, Sid Ahmed Ghlam admitted this time to having traveled to Syria to meet with Islamic State officials there. He also admitted that he had intended to kill parishioners in a church in Villejuif before giving up his plan.

“But these confessions are not. We were already convinced “ that the accused had traveled to Syria and wanted to carry out a deadly attack on a church, the attorneys general said. At first instance, Mr. Ghlam admitted to having met ISIS executives, but in Turkey, and he maintained that it was just “To scare” to parishioners.

On appeal, he persisted in denying being the author of the assassination of Aurélie Châtelain, coldly shot in a parking lot in Villejuif in order to steal her car. As in the first instance, Sid Ahmed Ghlam maintained that a mysterious accomplice, of which the investigators did not find any trace, had killed the young mother aged 32.

Only the blood and DNA of Sid Ahmed Ghlam were found at the crime scene, the attorneys general recalled. After the assassination, Mr. Ghlam accidentally injured his thigh while putting his gun back on his belt. This injury forced him to give up his plan to attack. Sid Ahmed Ghlam, 30, remained headlong most of the time during the indictment.

“You are an assassin”

“You are the only one who can rehabilitate yourself” had urged, in vain, before the requisitions, the lawyer of the Chatelain family, Charles Merlen. Antoine Casubolo-Ferro, another lawyer for the Châtelain family, for his part denounced the “Filthy and scandalous denials” of the accused. “Why did Sid Ahmed Ghlam not confess” the murder of Aurélie Châtelain during this trial ?, asked the lawyer. It is because in truth he never left the ideology [de l’Etat islamique]. “ “You are going to be condemned [non] not because you are a Muslim. You are going to be condemned because you are an assassin ”, considered Gérard Chemla, last lawyer of the civil parties.

The attorneys general were to continue their requisitions in the evening against the five co-defendants. Among them is Rabah Boukaouma, considered by the prosecution as the “Chief logistician” of the operation. At first instance, Mr. Boukaouma was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment, including a two-thirds security period. Sentences of fifteen and twenty-five years of criminal imprisonment had been pronounced against two other accomplices of Ghlam, Abdelkader Jalal and Farid Brahami. The defense will begin its oral arguments on Tuesday. The verdict is expected Thursday or Friday.