French court hands down prison terms for Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris
More than a dozen people have been handed sentences ranging from four years to life after being convicted in a Paris court of helping Islamist gunmen to carry out the deadly attack on a satirical weekly and a Jewish grocery, according to reports.
Survivors and relatives of the victims sat in silence as the verdicts were read out Wednesday, hailing them later as a victory for justice and freedom of speech after a trial that revived the horror of the killings in January 2015, Agence France-Presse reported.
In the absence of the three attackers themselves — all of whom were killed by security forces after their rampage — French investigators focused on their accomplices, including those who supplied the weapons.
Ali Riza Polat — who was judged to have known about his friend Amedy Coulibaly’s plans to take part in the attacks — was given a 30-year sentence for complicity, which he said he would appeal.
Ten others were present in court, all men ranging from 29 to 68 years old with prior criminal records but no terror convictions, who all found guilty on a variety of charges.
In all, 13 sentences were handed down, including to two accused who were tried in absentia.
Hayat Boumeddiene, the partner of gunman Coulibaly, received a 30-year sentence, while Mohamed Belhoucine, a known extremist, was handed a life term.
Both are presumed to be in Syria and may be dead.
A 14th suspect was not sentenced because he was convicted in a separate terror trial earlier this year and is believed to be dead.
During the attacks, 17 people were killed over three days, beginning with the massacre of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo weekly by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.
They said they were acting on behalf of Al-Qaeda to avenge the magazine’s decision to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, while Coulibaly had sworn loyalty to ISIS.
Coulibaly was responsible for the murder of a French policewoman and a hostage-taking at the Hyper Cacher market in which four Jewish men were killed.
The editor of Charlie Hebdo, Laurent “Riss” Sourisseau, was in court to hear the sentencing by a five-member team of magistrates who had listened to evidence against the accused over three months.
“It’s been painful, searing. It’s been a stage in our mourning process, necessary and unavoidable,” said Richard Malka, a lawyer for Charlie Hebdo, AFP reported.
“I hope it’s the start of something else, of an awareness, a wake-up call,” he added.
With Post wires