A Paris court sentences Peter Cherif, ideologue of the ‘Charlie Hebdo’ attacks, to life imprisonment

MADRID 3 Oct. () –

A Paris court this Thursday sentenced Peter Cherif to life imprisonment for terrorism crimes related to the attacks against the satirical weekly ‘Charlie Hebdo’ on January 7, 2015, which left twelve dead and eleven injured.

Cherif, 42, has been on trial for three weeks for terrorism crimes committed between 2011 and 2018, as well as the kidnapping of three French aid workers in Yemen in 2011.

The judge has agreed to impose a life sentence and an additional security measure of 22 years as requested by prosecutors, who the day before presented Cherif as an “integral jihadist” and “cornerstone” of these attacks, which were committed in revenge for some satirical cartoons of Islam.

He has been accused of having joined the ranks of Al Qaeda in Yemen and of participating in the training of Chérif Kouachi, one of the material authors of the massacre, as well as of having served as a “recruiter”, “propagandist”, “instructor”. soldier” and “jailer” during his years in that country.

Cherif, who throughout the trial has exercised his right to remain silent, has only acknowledged having been the “jailer” of the three French aid workers who were kidnapped and serving as a “translator” for the terrorist group.