Three men on trial for deadly 2016 terror attack on French church
euronews.comThree men are on trial in Paris for the 2016 murder of Father Jacques Hamel which was claimed by the so-called Islamic State group.
The priest was killed on 26 July 2016 by two young jihadists in his church in Saint-Etienne-du Rouvray, just south of Rouen. Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean were killed by police as they left the small church.
The three men who sat in the box of the special court in Paris on Monday — Jean-Philippe Jean Louis, Farid Khelil and Yassine Sebaihia — are part of the entourage of the attackers.
They are charged with "terrorist criminal conspiracy", suspected of having been aware of their plans, of having shared their ideology or of having tried to travel to Syria.
A fourth defendant, Rachid Kassim, is to tried in his absence. This French propagandist of the Islamic State group probably died in Iraq in 2017 but was indicted for complicity in the murder of the priest and the attempted murder of a parishioner. He is suspected of having "knowingly encouraged and facilitated the act" of the two jihadists.
The first to answer the questions of the court, Farid Khelil, 36, said that he had "a lot of trouble" with the facts of which he is accused and which he "disputes".
In front of the court, he evoked with a smile a path far removed from radical Islam, with his "many girlfriends", his consumption of cannabis ("I've been in withdrawal for 24 years") or his trips to the Netherlands and Germany "for the brothels".
Long hair tied in a ponytail, small glasses and a grey jumper, Khelil also described himself as a child and evoked a "lack of affection" after his parents' divorce. He described his "French-style" education by the daughter of Harkis and the "injustice" he felt after a redundancy in 2015.
He went
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