Last trial in Paris for Carlos “El Chacal”, the “most bloodthirsty” terrorist

Venezuelan Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, alias Carlos “El Chacal”, the most bloodthirsty and feared terrorist of the 80s and 90s, appeared on Wednesday before the Paris court which must pronounce the sentence of his responsibility in an attack against a shopping arcade in 1974 which left two dead and 34 injured.

This judgment represents “the last judicial round” for a “veteran of terrorism” and “an old acquaintance of French justice”, in the words of the newspaper Le Parisien, and who already weighs two life sentences for other facts.

His arrival at the quay this Wednesday showed legal experience of this character in the “anti-imperialist” armed struggle of the 1970s and 1980s and in prison in France since his arrest in 1994 in Sudan.

The 71-year-old, who is credited with killing 83 people in 20 years of activity, appeared in court dressed in a dark jacket and with the chin strap under the nose. He greeted with a smile his lawyers, as well as acquaintances present in the room. In his hands, the accused with white hair and a mustache had a book with him.

And when the presiding judge asked him to confirm his identity, job and address, he replied: “I have been on forced vacation for 27 and a half years”. He also denounced the search of his clothes by the police.

In the case of the attack perpetrated 47 years ago in the center of Paris, justice has already confirmed his guilt, but in November 2019, the Court of Cassation ordered that the sanction imposed will be reviewed, a third life sentence.

On appeal, to this former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine he was convicted of murders and attempted murders for “the effect of explosive power” and for transporting “an explosive device without legitimate cause”.

However, on appeal, the French tribunal de grande instance considered that the transport of the grenade was “a preliminary operation necessary for the commission of other crimes “ and he felt that he had been convicted twice for the same act.

After criticizing a “forensic archeology” in this case, “one of the oldest courts” in France, asked his lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, during the first day of the trial the cancellation of the load transport of explosive devices.

“The Court of Cassation quashed this conviction, which is a crime (…). So how can we leave the rest if there is no explosive device? I gave the example that it is a table where the legs are removed, “the lawyer told AFP.

But, following the opinion of the prosecutor and after a suspension of the session, the president of the court rejected the request, arguing that the facts they have already been tried and now they have to set the sentence, depending on the context of the offense and their personality.

Attempt

The attack on Publicis Pharmacy took place on September 15, 1974 in Paris. Around 5:10 p.m., a pomegranate from a restaurant on an upper floor broke down from the then popular shopping arcade.

The indictment sought to facilitate the release of a Japanese detained in Orly, a member of the Japanese Red Army, a far-left Japanese armed group that simultaneously kidnapped hostages at the French Embassy in The Hague .

In the absence of DNA samples and confessions, the Venezuelan was convicted of a series of charges, including the testimony of a repentant former comrade in arms, the German Hans-Joachim Klein.

According to the investigation, the pomegranate used in the Drugstore came from the same batch stolen from a military base in Germany that some found in the house of Carlos’ lover and abandoned him during the hostage-taking in The Hague.

The trial of Carlos “El Chacal”, who denied giving an interview in 1979 to the magazine El Watan Al Arabi in which he recognized this action, it must be prolonged until the next Friday.

Ramírez Sánchez has already been sentenced to life imprisonment twice for a triple murder in 1975 in Paris and four bombings committed in France in 1982 and 1983 (11 dead and 191 injured).

AFP

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