Peter Cherif Admits Involvement in Detention of French Hostages

He accustomed the courtroom to an endless series of “I will not answer the question.“. Tuesday September 24on the seventh day of his trial in front of the Paris Assize Court specially composed, Peter Cherif has departed from the silent strategy adopted since the beginning of the proceedings. The accused of 42 years old recognized his involvement in the hostage detention French to Yemen in 2011.

“I acknowledge the facts… I am the translator”said the man who is presented as a veteran of the jihad. It served as an interface between the three humanitarians from the Lyon-based NGO Triangle Génération Humanitaire, kidnapped in Yemen in May 2011 (released in November), and their captor, the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqpa).

“What I was able to do, to say, was the orders of the chief”

“I regret having participated in all this… I was not aware of the kidnapping planexplained Peter Cherif from the box, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie. It was a complicated situation for me. What I was able to do, to say, was the orders of the chief… If I had not been there, I am convinced that the conditions (hostage detention) would have been even more difficult”.

Peter Cherif’s confession came after the poignant testimony at the helm of one of the former hostages, Amélie, 45 years old, who has recognized the accused as one of his jailers: “I have a feeling that this is clearly the person (in the dock) who was there during our detention”.

Surprising confessions

Peter Cherif surprised the audience, he who had declared at the beginning of the trial that he did not recognize the facts with which he is accused. Detained since December 2018, the former member of the so-called network of Buttes-Chaumont is dismissed for his activities within AQPA between 2011 and 2018, and his alleged involvement in theCharlie Hebdo attack January 7, 2015.

Peter Cherif allegedly participated in the recruitment of his childhood friend Cherif Kouachi who, with his brother, had committed the massacre at the offices of the satirical weekly.