On the third day of the trial for the attack which cost the lives of a couple of police officers in June 2016, under the eyes of their son, investigators take the stand before the special criminal court of Paris. The hearing runs until October 10.
The Paris Special Assize Court entered the heart of the matter, on the third day of the Magnanville attack trial. After hearing the accused, Mohamed Aberouz, on Tuesday morning for more than four hours about his personality and his strict relationship with the Muslim religion, the magistrates are now hearing from the anti-terrorist investigators.
>> Magnanville attack: “Not a week goes by without thinking of JB or Jessica,” confides a close friend of the police couple killed 7 years ago
All testify anonymously, we will simply know them under the names of “Sdat 99”, “DGSI 1797”, “Sdat 133”. Behind these acronyms are a commissioner from the anti-terrorist sub-directorate, an investigator from the same service and an agent from the internal intelligence service.
The frustration of the “Sdat 99” investigator
“Sdat 99” is the first at the helm. Dark suit and graying hair, for more than two hours this anti-terrorism commissioner details in a rapid tone, without reading his notes, seven years of investigation. A presentation that he wants to be as factual as possible. He is careful not to formulate hypotheses, even when the defense lawyers try to push him to his limits. If the presentation keeps the court in suspense, we feel a feeling of frustration, which “Sdat 99” also shares. “If everyone in this case had played fair, had spoken more spontaneously, we would know more today”. He glances to his left, towards the Salvaing and Schneider families: “I don’t have the information that would allow me to tell you why your loved ones were targeted.”
That said, “Sdat 99” still brings a few snippets of answers. In particular on this question that the families of the victims have been asking since June 13, 2016: was Jean-Baptiste killed before Jessica, or the other way around? For “Sdat 99”, there is little doubt that Jessica was attacked at home before her companion arrived at their house. The investigator recalls, she was found with her shoes on, her cell phone in her pocket, the analyzes carried out on her body show that the attack was sudden. Furthermore, Larossi Abballa began consulting the victims’ computer at 7 p.m. and “it’s quite unlikely” that he could have done it while Jessica Schneider was still alive. Jean-Baptiste Salvaing was attacked around 8:20 p.m.
“Strange” behavior, by Mohamed Aberouz
Cautious and cautious, “Sdat 99” anticipated this question from the defense: if the accused was indeed an accomplice of the terrorist and assisted him on the evening of the events at the victims’ home, how could he have run away without anyone noticing? The investigator reveals that in view of the trial, he recently went several times to this residential area of Magnanville where “all the gardens communicate with each other thanks to a pedestrian crossing”. And, he assures, “no one ever noticed me”. Thus, for “Sdat 99”, “the places are favorable”, to a discreet escape. His conviction is made: Mohamed Aberouz was able to flee while Larossi Abballa still held the victims’ son hostage.
>> Magnanville attack: “Not a week goes by without thinking of JB or Jessica,” confides a close friend of the police couple killed 7 years ago
So what can we say about this DNA trace which turned the investigation around a year after the attack? From the trail of a “lone wolf” ? The investigators had to completely reconsider their reading of the file, recognizes this anti-terrorist commissioner, “the vision of a file can evolve”he responds to the defense who asks him “how”, he can “get rid of this lone wolf hypothesis”. In any case, he wishes to clarify, this DNA of the accused found among the victims on their computer is not the one and only determining element. Because, he recognizes, “I can tell you [que l’accusé] touched the computer, but doesn’t say what he did with it“.
There is, he recalls, the behavior “odd”, by Mohamed Aberouz who claims to have discovered the attack when he woke up the day after the incident. However, the investigation showed that he deleted his Telegram account at 4:14 a.m. the night of the attack. There is also the exploitation of the telephone, which will be discussed in more detail this Thursday in court by another investigator. “Beyond DNA, the combination of these elements gives us comfort”in the fact that Mohamed Aberouz became an accomplice of the terrorist, indicates “Sdat 99”.
Why these two victims?
Among the gray areas, there is therefore also the choice of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider as victims. Have they been spotted? Have they been targeted for a long time? And did the man in the box today participate in these scoutings? If the three investigators interviewed so far recognize that it is impossible to answer this question seven years after the events, an enormous amount of work has on the other hand been carried out to try to understand whether the bonds of friendship maintained by the terrorist and the accused were only friends. This Wednesday afternoon, that was the meaning of hearing “Sdat 133”.
This investigator with long curly hair testified for more than four hours to repeat, day by day, the account of the interactions between the two men. And his conclusion is that “this daily proximity is not limited to banalities, but Mohamed Aberouz was able to ideologically influence Larossi Abballa”. They have “a common ideology”which, according to this investigator, “demonstrates the influence of Mohamed Aberouz on Larossi Abballa”.