In the trial of the accomplices in the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the court sentenced the main defendant, Ali Riz Polata, to 30 years in prison. The partner of one of the assassins, Hayat Boumeddiene, received the same verdict.
A total of 17 people died in the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store back in 2015. The three attackers — brothers Chérif and Said Kouachi and Amédy Coulibaly — were shot by police. The trial began in France in September and named 14 alleged accomplices, three of whom are on the run.
The court found Polata guilty of aiding and abetting terrorism, the DPA reported, referring to the French media. The indictment demanded a life sentence for him because he played a central role in the preparation of the attacks and was also the “right hand” of the assassin Coulibaly.
The court also found that Polata had given Coulibaly concrete and decisive assistance in preparing for the attack and that he had a clear idea of his intentions. Polata claims that he had no idea about Coulibaly’s plans.
Coulibaly’s partner Hayat Boumeddiene also received a 30-year sentence for her significant contribution to planning the attacks. However, she was tried in absentia because she traveled to Syria or Iraq with two other defendants a few days before the attack. According to the AP, she is still alive, while her two friends, the Belhoucine brothers, are considered dead.
A court in Paris found all 14 defendants guilty, but it was not able to prove the crime of aiding and abetting terrorism for all of them.
Title image: Plaintiffs’ lawyer Mehana Mouhou, center, answers reporters after the verdict in the trial for the January 2015 Paris attacks, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, in Paris. The fugitive widow of an Islamic State gunman and the man responsible for his logistics were convicted of terrorism charges in the trial of 14 people linked to the attacks against the satirical Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket. The verdict ends the three-month trial for the three days of killings across Paris, for which the Islamic State and al-Qaida claimed joint responsibility. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
