The trial of Peter Cherif, suspected of being the instigator of the attack against Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 and of having participated in the kidnapping by AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) in 2011 of three humanitarian workers, opened this Monday. The trial is expected to last three weeks.
These are habits that speak volumes about the number and seriousness of the attacks that have bloodied France in recent years. Lawyers, journalists, victim support staff, police officers, everyone now knows by heart the secure route that leads to the major trial room at the Palais de Justice de la Cité, everyone finds their place there in a perfectly well-oiled ritual. This room has seen most of the major terrorist trials since the November 13 attacks (nicknamed V13 by the justice system) from September 2021 to June 2022 for which it was built. This year alone, for example, the trial of the Trèbes-Carcassonne attack (4 dead in 2018, including Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame) and the Strasbourg attack (5 dead in 2018) were judged there. Next November, the second trial relating to the assassination of Samuel Paty will be held there.
Did Peter Cherif play a role in the Charlie Hebdo attack?
For now, the specially composed assize court will delve back into the case of the attack committed by the Kouachi brothers on January 7, 2015 against Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead, for three weeks. The French jihadist Peter Cherif is accused of having been the instigator, which he denies. If he was not tried in 2020 with the other individuals prosecuted for having participated in the preparation of the attack, it is because when he was arrested at the end of 2018, the investigation had ended.
Childhood friend of Chérif Kouachi, one of the two perpetrators of the attack on Charlie, with whom he grew up in the 19the arrondissement, Peter Cherif belonged to the same jihadist network known as Buttes Chaumont. They met again in 2011 in Yemen, Peter Cherif being suspected of having facilitated the arrival of Chérif Kouachi within AQPA, the organization that claimed responsibility for the attack. Peter Cherif was also appearing for having participated in the kidnapping of three humanitarians in Yemen in 2011. An accusation that he also denies.
During the trial of the January 2015 attacks, Peter Cherif was questioned as a witness from his prison. He refused to answer any questions put to him by the court and the lawyers, limiting himself to a simple statement in Arabic and assuring that he had nothing to do with the attack.
Life sentence incurred
So, when the trial opened on Monday morning, we wondered what attitude he would adopt. With a shaved head, glasses and surgical mask, he appeared in the dock dressed with great care in a gray Western suit, paired with an impeccable white shirt. Peter Cherif did not make any opening statements this time, neither religious nor concerning his innocence. He simply answered calmly the questions asked by the president of the assize court concerning his identity. Later in the morning, when the magistrate asked him for details on his mother's situation – she said she was unable to come and testify for health reasons – he answered without difficulty, confirming the cooperation strategy that he seems to have decided to adopt. It must be said that the stakes are high. Prosecuted for participation in a group formed with a view to preparing one or more crimes of terrorist nature against persons as a repeat offender, and kidnapping by an organized terrorist gang, he faces life imprisonment.
The morning was devoted, as is customary, to the call of the civil parties, then of the witnesses; we find there most of the victims of the attacks of January 2015, and in particular the weekly Charlie, represented by Me Richard Malka. Then the president of the assize court proceeded in the afternoon to the reading of her report.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the first interrogation of the accused on his background since birth and the hearing of the personality investigator will take place.
Journey of a French jihadist: from Iraq to Yemen via Syria
Born in Paris in the 19the district in 1982, Peter Cherif tried to join the army in 2001, but he was given an unfavorable opinion. Finally, he obtained his parachutist diploma in 2002 as part of a military training course in Pau, but injured his foot. He gave up on joining the army and became radicalized under the influence of Farid Benyettou. In May 2004, he left to fight in Iraq. Captured on December 2 by the Americans in Fallujah, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and incarcerated in Abu Ghraib. But he was released on March 6, 2007 during an attack on the prison and exfiltrated to Syria where he ended up going to the French embassy on February 7, 2008. Tried in January 2011 by the Paris Criminal Court, where he appeared free, for his departure to Iraq, he was sentenced on March 10 to five years in prison. He would not serve his sentence because he had left France two days earlier, to escape his sentence. He went through Tunisia and arrived in Yemen on May 5, 2011 where he joined AQAP, of which he was an employee. It was at this time that he allegedly organized the arrival of Cherif Kouachi. Also in the summer of 2011, he is suspected of having played the role of interpreter in the kidnapping of three humanitarian workers. He remained in Yemen until 2018, taking part in combat and learning to make explosives. With his partner who joined him there, they have two children born in 2014 and 2015. While he was trying to rebuild his life in Djibouti with his family, he was arrested there at the end of December 2018 and deported to France.
