The lawyers of Mohamed Lamine Aberouz, sentenced Wednesday to life imprisonment for complicity in the assassination of a couple of police officers at their home in Magnanville (Yvelines) in June 2016 in the name of the Islamic State organization, appealed of the decision of the special assize court of Paris.
“Our client was not present at the time of the incident. We are not asking the Assize Court to slip into fiction but to judge the facts. In a rule of law, we do not convict on hypotheses,” announced one of his lawyers, Vincent Brengarth. Mr. Aberouz, 30, never stopped proclaiming his innocence throughout his trial. The accused had ten days to appeal. The appeal was filed on Friday, October 13.
For its part, the court ruled that the accused, of whom a trace of DNA was found on the victims’ laptop, was indeed present in the couple’s house at the time of the crime. It is “unlikely” that Larossi Abballa acted alone, armed only with a knife, said the president of the Assize Court, Christophe Petiteau, announcing the verdict.
“The accused declared before this court that he did not share the values of the Republic, which leaves one wondering about his capacity for reintegration,” also underlined Mr. Petiteau. Mr. Aberouz is “totally committed to the cause of the Islamic State,” he insisted. “It is inconceivable for me to be convicted for a crime I did not commit. The name of the person who committed the irreparable is Larossi Abballa,” Mr. Aberouz said before the court retired to deliberate.
On June 13, 2016, in the early evening, Larossi Abballa murdered Jessica Schneider, 36, administrative secretary at the Mantes-la-Jolie police station, and her companion, Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, commander of the Mantes-la-Jolie police station, with several stab wounds. Mureaux police station, before confining their young son for several hours.