The man is being tried for criminal terrorist association between 2011 and 2018, the period of his presence in Yemen within Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and his role in the massacre committed in Paris in the offices of Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.
French jihad veteran Peter Cherif, who has been on trial since Monday, September 16 before the special assize court in Paris, notably for his role alongside one of the attackers of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in 2015, said on Tuesday that he refused to speak.
At the start of the hearing, the president of the assize court asked the accused to speak to retrace his life story, which should be at the heart of this second day of the trial.
“I do not wish to speak, Madam President,” replied Peter Cherif, after removing his surgical mask.
On Monday, he said he did not admit to the charges against him.
“Nothing to do” with these attacks
The 42-year-old jihadist is being tried by the specially composed assize court for criminal terrorist association between 2011 and 2018, the period of his presence in Yemen within Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
He is also appearing for the organized kidnapping in 2011, for more than five months, of three French nationals, members of the NGO Triangle Génération Humainitaire.
But it is above all his potential involvement in the massacre committed in Paris in the offices of Charlie Hebdo by the brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi on January 7, 2015, fiercely debated during the investigation, which should be at the heart of the trial.
The investigating judges believe that he “facilitated the integration into AQAP of one of the Kouachi brothers, most likely Chérif”, and that he had “knowledge” of “the mission” to carry out an attack in France entrusted to his childhood friend during a short stay in Yemen in the summer of 2011.
Heard in the fall of 2020 as a witness during the trial of the January 2015 attacks, committed in particular by the Kouachi brothers before they were shot dead by the police, and which left a total of 17 dead, he assured that he had “nothing to do” with these attacks, before remaining silent.
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