French court upholds life sentence for man linked to jihadist murder of police couple
A French court on Saturday upheld a life sentence for a man convicted for his part in the 2016 killing of a police couple at their home in front of their young child.
In 2023, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz, a Franco-Moroccan, was found guilty of complicity in the stabbings of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his partner Jessica Schneider by his friend Larossi Abballa in June 2016.
Abballa slit 36-year-old Schneider's throat in front of her three-year-old son and then stabbed 42-year-old Salvaing to death outside their home in the town of Magnanville outside Paris.
He was shot dead by a police response unit.
Abballa claimed the attack on behalf of the Islamic State group in a chilling live video from the scene of the crime broadcast on social media.
The killings came amid a wave of attacks in France linked to the Islamic State group and marked the first time that police officers were traced to, and killed, in their homes.
On Saturday, the Paris Special Criminal Court found Aberouz, 31, guilty on all counts including complicity in the murder of a person in a position of public authority and participation in a terrorist criminal conspiracy.
His lawyers said their client would lodge an appeal with the Court of Cassation.
'Evil will'
Vincent Brengarth, one of his lawyers, said Aberouz was "devastated".
"The benefit of the doubt was effectively granted to the prosecution, which represents a reversal of a fundamental principle," he said.
Schneider's mother praised the ruling.
"Justice has been done," Josiane Schneider told reporters.
She praised the "very professional court," including the prosecutor.
"I got a clear picture of what happened to my daughter. I had my own story in my head, she filled in the gaps and now I have answers."
Aberouz has maintained his innocence, saying he was at prayers the night of the attack.
He has condemned the attack and insisted that Abballa acted alone.
"It was his evil will," Aberouz said in court. "I regret having known him and having been fooled."
"I assure you that I have no responsibility for your misfortune," Aberouz said in the courtroom, looking at the families of Schneider and Salvaing.
03:23
According to the prosecutor, the accused was a member of the Islamic State group and present at the scene of the crime on June 13, 2016.
The defendant's denials "do not stand up to scrutiny", said prosecutor Naima Rudloff.
"The sequence of events confirms that this could only have been done with the help of a second man," added the prosecutor.
"Can you imagine a man, in broad daylight, attacking two potentially armed police officers?"
Brengarth, one of the lawyers for the accused, had argued for his client's acquittal on the grounds of reasonable doubt, stressing the lack of "concrete evidence" against him.
The accused's DNA was found on the victims' computer. His lawyers have claimed his DNA came from Abballa's car.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Algeria sentences French football journalist to seven years in jail
Algeria 's authorities have sentenced a prominent French sports journalist specialised in African football to seven years in prison for "glorifying terrorism", media rights campaigners RSF said Sunday, denouncing the verdict as "nonsensical". Christophe Gleizes, 36, who contributes to the So Foot magazine, was ordered by the court in Tizi Ouzou to be immediately incarcerated and will appeal the ruling on Monday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said. "He has now been unjustly convicted and imprisoned for simply doing his job," said the group. Gleizes, who has co-authored a book about football in Africa, was arrested in May 2024 and then placed under judicial control and was unable to leave the country, RSF said. "Christophe Gleizes has been subjected to an absurd judicial control order for over a year," said Thibaut Bruttin, RSF's director general. "His seven-year sentence is nonsensical and demonstrates one thing: today, nothing escapes politics," he added. Gleizes travelled to the country and Tizi Ouzou to write about the local football club Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie, named after Algeria's Kabylia region, home to the Berber Kabyle people. "We are in shock," his family said in a statement shared by RSF. "There is no justification for Christophe having to endure this ordeal. How can one justify punishing a journalist for practising his profession with integrity?" 'In shock' As well as "glorifying terrorism", he was convicted of "possessing publications for propaganda purposes harmful to national interests", RSF said. It said Gleizes had 2015 and 2017 been in touch with a Tizi Ouzou football figure prominent in the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), designated a "terrorist" organisation by the Algerian authorities in 2021. "The first two interactions between Christophe Gleizes and this individual occurred well before this designation," it said adding he had also not concealed contacting the person again in 2024 as part of preparations for the report. "Imprisoned for doing his job!" said So Foot. "His loved ones and editorial team are in shock," it added. The jailing of Gleizes comes at a time of growing tension between Algeria and former colonial master France. Algeria arrested and jailed French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in November on national security charges and has defied calls from President Emmanuel Macron for his release. Macron angered Algiers in July 2024 when he backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria backs the pro-independence Polisario Front.
France 24
17 hours ago
- France 24
Israeli attack on Tehran's Evin prison killed 71, Iran judiciary says
An Israeli strike on Tehran's Evin prison during this month's 12-day war killed at least 71 people, Iran 's judiciary said Sunday, days after a ceasefire ended hostilities between the two arch-foes. The strike on Monday destroyed part of the administrative building at Evin, a large, heavily fortified complex in the north of Tehran, which rights groups say holds political prisoners and foreign nationals. "According to official figures, 71 people were killed in the attack on Evin prison," said judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir of the attack, part of the bombardment campaign Israel launched on June 13. According to Jahangir, the victims at Evin included administrative staff, guards, prisoners and visiting relatives as well as people living nearby. Images shared by the judiciary showed destroyed walls, collapsed ceilings, scattered debris, and broken surfaces across waiting areas at the facility. The judiciary said that Evin's medical centre and visiting rooms had been targeted. On Tuesday, a day after the strike, the judiciary said that the Iranian prison authority had transferred inmates out of Evin prison, without specifying their number or identifying them. The inmates at Evin have included Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi as well as several French nationals and other foreigners.
France 24
21 hours ago
- France 24
Morocco's Atlantic gambit: linking restive Sahel to ocean
The "Atlantic Initiative" promises ocean access to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger through a new $1.3-billion port in the former Spanish colony claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front but largely controlled by Morocco. But the project remains fraught with challenges at a time when military coups in the Sahel states have brought new leaderships to power intent on overturning longstanding political alignments following years of jihadist violence. The Moroccan initiative aims to "substantially transform the economy of these countries" and "the region", said King Mohammed VI when announcing it in late 2023. The "Dakhla Atlantic" port, scheduled for completion at El Argoub by 2028, also serves Rabat's goal of cementing its grip on Western Sahara after US President Donald Trump recognised its sovereignty over the territory in 2020. Morocco's regional rival Algeria backs the Polisario but has seen its relations with Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger fray in recent months after the downing a Malian drone. Military coups over the past five years have seen the three Sahel states pivot towards Russia in a bid to restore their sovereignty and control over natural resources after decades within the sphere of influence of their former colonial ruler France. French troops were forced to abandon their bases in the three countries, ending their role in the fight against jihadists who have found sanctuary in the vast semi-arid region on the southern edge of the Sahara. 'Godsend' After both the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS imposed economic sanctions on the new juntas, Morocco emerged as an early ally, with Niger calling the megaproject "a godsend". "Morocco was one of the first countries where we found understanding at a time when ECOWAS and other countries were on the verge of waging war against us," Niger's Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare said in April during a visit to Rabat alongside his Malian and Burkinabe counterparts. The Sahel countries established a bloc of their own -- the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) -- in September 2023 but have remained dependent on the ports of ECOWAS countries like Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo. Rising tensions with the West African bloc could restrict their access to those ports, boosting the appeal of the alternative trade outlet being offered by Rabat. - 'Many steps to take' - Morocco has been seeking to position itself as a middleman between Europe and the Sahel states, said Beatriz Mesa, a professor at the International University of Rabat. With jihadist networks like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group striking ever deeper into sub-Saharan Africa, the security threat has intensified since the departure of French-led troops. Morocco was now "profiting from these failures by placing itself as a reliable Global South partner", Mesa said. Its initiative has won the backing of key actors including the United States, France and the Gulf Arab states, who could provide financial support, according to specialist journal Afrique(s) en mouvement. But for now the proposed trade corridor is little more than an aspiration, with thousands of kilometres (many hundreds of miles) of desert road-building needed to turn it into a reality. "There are still many steps to take," since a road and rail network "doesn't exist", said Seidik Abba, head of the Sahel-focused think tank CIRES. Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for the New South said the road route from Morocco through Western Sahara to Mauritania is "almost complete", even though it has been targeted by Polisario fighters. Abdelmalek Alaoui, head of the Moroccan Institute for Strategic Intelligence, said it could cost as much as $1 billion to build a land corridor through Mauritania, Mali and Niger all the way to Chad, 3,100 kilometres (1,900 miles) to the east.
