Peter Cherif was on trial for criminal terrorist conspiracy between 2011 and 2018. He was sentenced this Thursday, October 3 to life imprisonment in France.
The jihadist Peter Cheriftried before the special assize court of Paris for the role he may have played in Yemen with Chérif Kouachi, one of the attackers of Charlie Hebdo in 2015, and for the kidnapping of three humanitarian workers in 2011, was sentenced this Thursday, October 3 to life imprisonment.
The Paris Special Assize Court found him guilty of all the charges against him. She combined the life sentence with a security period of 22 years, in accordance with the requisitions of the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office.
The president of the court, Frédérique Aline, explained that this decision had been taken “in view of the seriousness of the facts” alleged, and the “dangerousness” of Peter Cherif. The latter remained impassive when the verdict was announced.
“You obviously knew about the mission”
For three weeks, the jihad veteran, a 42-year-old man, appeared for criminal terrorist conspiracy between 2011 and 2018, the period of his presence in Yemen within Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
He was accused of having joined the ranks of this jihadist organization and, in this context, of having participated in the training of his childhood friend Chérif Kouachi in the attack committed on January 7, 2015 at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were murdered. The attack was claimed by AQAP.
“The court has retained your role as facilitator, as integrator of Chérif Kouachi with Aqpa,” declared the president, specifying that he was “the only Frenchman” within the jihadist organization during Cherif Kouachi’s stay in the summer of 2011 in Yemen.
“You were necessarily aware of the mission that had been entrusted to him,” she added, stressing that the two men had maintained links after Chérif Kouachi’s return to France.
He denied having played a role in the Charlie Hebdo attack
He also appeared for the organized gang sequestration in 2011, for more than five months, of three French nationals, members of the NGO Triangle Generation Humanitarian.
“These are the only facts that you admitted for the first time at the hearing,” observed the magistrate.
During the trial, Peter Cherif used his right to silence most of the time, a strategy that was resented by the civil parties. However, he admitted to having been one of the jailers of the three humanitarian workers, having served as a “translator” to interface between the hostages and their Yemeni Al-Qaeda captors. On the other hand, he denied having played a role in the Charlie Hebdo attack.
Opportunity to appeal studied next week
In their submissions this Wednesday, October 2, the two attorneys general painted the portrait of a “complete jihadist” who was “the cornerstone of the preparation” of the Charlie Hebdo attack.
The defense lawyers, for their part, denounced “a fixed match”, in pleadings which sometimes caused a certain unease in the courtroom.
“Has this trial made it possible to answer the questions of the civil parties?” asked Me Nabil El Ouchikli. “Perhaps one of the reasons for Peter Cherif’s silence or occasional speaking out is that he doesn’t have these answers,” he said.
His colleague, Me Sefen Guez Guez, expressed his “disappointment” after the verdict was announced, considering that we were “in the almost exclusive use for extremely serious facts of deductions made from silence, void, of absence”. He indicated that he would study with his client the opportunity to appeal next week.
“We are not satisfied with life imprisonment, but the fact is that Peter Cherif’s jihadist commitment is quite exceptional,” declared Mr. Richard Malka, lawyer for Charlie Hebdo.
According to him, his “fanatical” commitment was not “denied, not even at the hearing: he explained nothing, we could not understand, he gave no hope”.
“What this sanctions is 20 years of mistakes, preferably death over love, violence over peace,” the council said.
