Before the special Paris Assize Court retired to deliberate, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz repeated that he was “innocent” four times and addressed the families of the police couple murdered at their home in June 2016.
“I am innocent, even if my personality displeases you to the highest degree.” At the trial of the Magnanville attack (Yvelines), Mohamed Lamine Aberouz addressed his last words to the Paris Special Assize Court on Wednesday October 11, shortly after 9:30 a.m. Accused of being the accomplice of Larossi Abballa, the terrorist who assassinated in the name of the Islamic State group a couple of police officers, at their home, on June 13, 2016, he has been appearing since September 25 for complicity in the assassination of a person holding a public authority, complicity in the kidnapping of a minor and criminal terrorist association.
Dressed in a white t-shirt, standing, one hand resting on the edge of the accused box, the other on the microphone, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz, aged 30, hammered home his innocence, as he has done all throughout the hearing. “The name of the person who made the irreparable happen that day is Larossi Abballa, alone, and no one else”, he insisted. The accused also addressed, what he “remains of compassion after these years of grinding, hardness and isolation”looking into the eyes of the families of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider, the murdered police couple, sitting on the civil parties’ bench in front of him. “Everyone can feel the pain and fear that was yours. Everyone can put themselves in this family’s shoes.”launched the accused.
“It is not today by convicting an innocent person that (…) this crime will be mitigated. Nothing will be repaired and it will only destroy additional families.”
Mohamed Lamine Aberouzbefore the special assize court of Paris
Mohamed Lamine Aberouz spoke the day after the requisitions of the attorneys general, convinced that he was the second man in the Magnanville attack, present alongside the terrorist on the evening of the incident. The magistrates demanded the maximum sentence against him: life imprisonment, accompanied by a security sentence of 22 years. If, in his last words, the accused thanked the prosecution “who had a correct attitude”he wanted to declare to his representatives: “You are wrong, you are wrong. I am not the person you portrayed, I never was that person, I never will be.”
“To the court, I would like to say: for me, it is inconceivable to be convicted for a crime that I did not commit.”
Mohamed Lamine Aberouzbefore the special assize court of Paris
At the end of these last words from the accused, the president of the special assize court of Paris and the four assessors withdrew to deliberate. “His compassion is without feeling. Nothing surprises me, he expresses what he has to say as usual”, reacted Jessica Schneider’s mother as she left the courtroom. The verdict is expected in the afternoon.