The requisitions were followed to the letter by the special assize court of Paris. Before she retired to deliberate, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz had repeated that he was “innocent” four times.
After a little more than eight hours of deliberation, the Paris Special Assize Court delivered its verdict. On Wednesday, October 11, late in the afternoon, she sentenced Mohamed Lamine Aberouz to life imprisonment, with a security sentence of 22 years. The only accused in this trial, he was tried for complicity in the assassination, on behalf of the Islamic State group, of a couple of police officers, at their home in Magnanville (Yvelines), on June 13, 2016. Aged 30, he was found guilty of complicity in the assassination of a person holding public authority, complicity in the kidnapping of a minor and criminal terrorist association. Facts that he disputes: during his last words, spoken Wednesday morning, he once again proclaimed his innocence.
>> Trial of the Magnanville attack: the disturbing personality of the accused Mohamed Lamine Aberouz
The sentence handed down is in accordance with the requisitions of the attorneys general, who had demanded, on Tuesday morning, the maximum sentence against the accused. The latter collapsed in the box when the verdict was announced, greeted in great silence, in front of an audience made up of numerous police officers. He remained seated for many minutes, his forehead lowered, curled up. “He is shot. We don’t even know what he could have done at the scene. In all respects, it is a scandalous decision”, reacted one of his lawyers, Vincent Brengarth, at the end of the hearing. His colleague, Nino Arnaud, announced that his client intended to appeal.
A DNA trace which “establishes its presence” on the evening of the attack
The central question was whether Mohamed Lamine Aberouz was alongside the killer Larossi Abballa, shot dead the night of the incident during the raid by the Raid police officers. It was mainly due to the presence of his DNA on the wrist rest of the computer of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider, the couple of murdered civil servants, that he was referred to the special criminal court of Paris . “It is a direct trace which establishes the presence of Mohamed Lamine Aberouz in this house”, considered the court, composed of five professional magistrates and chaired by Christophe Petiteau, to motivate its decision. The court rejected the hypothesis of a DNA transfer, supported by the defense throughout the debates. During the hearing, thegenetics experts had judged it “unlikely”without however being able to completely exclude it.
“There is room for an accomplice in this crime scene.”
Christophe Petiteau, president of the special assize court of Parisin his motivations
The Paris Special Assize Court also did not accept the alibi of the accused, who claimed to be praying on the evening of June 13, 2016. “Regarding his telephone, the sharing of his boundaries in Mureaux does not appear decisive for the manifestation of the truth”, noted President Christophe Petiteau, who added that “in the prayer room, no one saw him between 6:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.”at the time when Larossi Abballa murdered Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider, before holding their 3-year-old son hostage.
Families of victims satisfied
The court further pointed out the “series of maneuvers” by Mohamed Lamine Aberouz “to destroy the evidence that could have incriminated him”, citing the deletion of his Telegram account shortly after the attack. Furthermore, at the end of the trial, which lasted two and a half weeks, the court “came to the conclusion that Mohamed Lamine Aberouz was totally committed to the ideology of the Islamic State”.
“Tonight, in the fight against Islamist terrorism, with this sentence of criminal imprisonment accompanied by a security sentence of 22 years, it is, for Jessica’s family, but also for all French citizens and for their police , a world that is just a little bit better”declared Thibault de Montbrial, lawyer for Jessica Schneider’s mother, after the verdict. “I trusted in justice, it was served”, declared, satisfied, her client, in front of journalists. For their part, members of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing’s family wished to express themselves in a press release. Even if “many questions remain”they write, “From now on”they aspire “to find calm and reassurance”.