This Franco-Moroccan was a close friend of the radical Islamist Larossi Abballa, who murdered police officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his partner, Jessica Schneider, in June 2016.
The attack had plunged the national police – and an entire country – into fear. On June 13, 2016, Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42 years old, commander at the Mureaux police station (Yvelines), and his partner Jessica Schneider, 36 years old, administrative agent in a neighboring police station, were murdered with a knife, at their home, in the presence of their son aged 3 at the time. The attacker, a radical Islamist called Larossi Abballa, claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) group in a video broadcast live on Facebook, before being killed by the Raid a few hours later.
While investigators initially thought that Larossi Abballa was alone at the couple’s home, magistrates ended up suspecting one of his close friends, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz, of also having been there. Now aged 30, he will appear alone at the double murder trial, which begins before the Paris Special Assize Court, Monday September 25, for “complicity in terrorist assassinations”, “kidnapping” and “criminal association criminal terrorist.”
A man belatedly suspected
This Franco-Moroccan, who grew up in Mureaux in a family of five children, was initially not one of the investigators’ suspects. The day after the events, they first turned towards Mohamed Lamine Aberouz’s younger brother, Charaf Din Aberouz, as well as one of his friends, Saad Rajraji. Both were close to the killer and known to French anti-terrorism officials.
They were sentenced to prison with Larossi Abballa in September 2013, during the trial of a network sending jihadists to Pakistan. Investigators suspected them of having provided logistical support to Larossi Abballa. But they did not deny their direct complicity in the Magnanville attack and were released under judicial supervision.
The name of Mohamed Lamine Aberouz has not resurfaced only a year and a half after the events. After being placed in police custody for the first time in April 2017, then released, he was arrested again in December 2017 and indicted by the investigating judges, who suspected him of having been the “partner in crime” live from Larossi Abballa.
A decisive DNA trace
Until then, investigators were convinced that the attacker was the only one present at the home of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider. But a major twist in the investigation supported this new hypothesis: a genetic fingerprint belonging neither to the killer nor to the couple was found on the wrist rest of the police officers’ family computer. It appeared in the national genetic fingerprint file as that of Mohamed Lamine Aberouz.
This DNA trace was the subject of a procedural and expert battle. Mohamed Lamine Aberouz’s lawyers first defended the hypothesis of a “transfer” from Larossi Abballa, because their client had “shake hands” a few days earlier, the two men both being close friends. But experts have ruled this explanation “unconvincing”, the concentration of DNA found on the victims’ computer being too high. For the prosecution, this is proof that Mohamed Lamine Aberouz was also present at the victims’ home at the time of the double assassination, but that he managed to flee before the arrival of the police. .
A fragile alibi
Why would Larossi Abballa call on his friend at the time of his action? Mohamed Lamine Aberouz has “good computer skills”, underlines the indictment order, which would explain why the assailant, less comfortable in this area, could have needed his skills to help him broadcast his crimes on social networks. The latter could also have embodied “moral encouragement and ideological reinforcement”according to the judges.
Mohamed Lamine Aberouz, for his part, has continued to proclaim his innocence. He thus claims to have spent part of the evening of June 13, 2016 in a mosque room in Les Mureaux. The analysis of his telephony did not make it possible to attest to this alibi, without however refuting it. However, no witness was able to confirm that he was indeed present that evening.
On the other hand, the tracing of his telephone provided other information, showing that he had gone several times to Magnanville, in the vicinity of the victims’ home, a few days before the tragedy. He explained to investigators that he accompanied Larossi Abballa on his business trips. Mohamed Lamine Aberouz also declared that he had gone there as part of driving lessons. The instructors at his driving school were not able to date the driving lessons they gave him, and to confirm this explanation from the accused.
A “religious guide” for Larossi Abballa
Mohamed Lamine Aberouz is also no stranger to anti-terrorism justice. This single childless man, who lived with his mother, has already been indicted in the investigation into the attempted attack on the gas cylinders of Notre-Dame, in Paris, for “failure to denounce a terrorist crime”, in because of his links with Sarah Hervouët, one of the young women involved. She was sentenced in 2019 to twenty years’ imprisonment in the context of this case, in particular for having stabbed an agent of the General Directorate of Internal Security in plain clothes, four days after the failed attack. At the time of her arrest in September 2016, she was engaged to Mohamed Lamine Aberouz, then 23 years old.
In the context of the Magnanville attack, investigators perceive the Franco-Moroccan as a “religious guide” for Larossi Abballa, who visited him very regularly and saw him as a confidant. Audios exchanged between the two men via Telegram messaging show that Mohamed Lamine Aberouz gave him advice about religion, “such as learning and practicing Islam and the Arabic language, Islamic jurisprudence, jihad, propaganda, doctrine and military actions of the Islamic State (…) as well as current events in Iraq -Syrian”describes the charging order.
“Either victory or death as a martyr!”
According to the judges, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz initially denied his adherence to radical Islamism and armed jihad, but “eventually admitted that the ideology of the Islamic State best corresponded to his own beliefs”even if he declared that he condemned “excesses of method” of this terrorist organization. He also admitted that he had followed ISIS propaganda channels on Telegram, “explaining that he wanted to find out about this organization”. During his hearing, one of his acquaintances also assured that Mohamed Lamine Aberouz knew “the functioning of all weapons (…) and considered that the holy war was still relevant”.
In addition, investigators note that he deleted the Telegram application from his phone the night of the couple’s assassination. An element proving, according to them, that he wanted “escape from the police” and erase his exchanges with Larossi Abballa. A few days before the attack, he had also dropped off with a relative “various personal effects, including a USB key containing ISIS propaganda files”.
For investigators, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz necessarily knew Larossi Abballa’s attack plans. He had even sent her explicit Telegram audios – such as “either victory or death as a martyr!”a few days before the facts, showing according to them an encouragement to take action. “Mr. Aberouz has never hidden his opinionsdeclared his lawyer, Me Vincent Brengarth, at Worldin April 2022. But I dare to hope that opinions are not judged in France.”