PARIS – The prime suspect in the trial of alleged accomplices in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks sparked an uproar in court on Friday when he threatened a policewoman during his testimony
« You’re going to pay for this, » shouted Ali Riza Polat, allegedly the right-hand man of Ammy Coulibaly, who killed a policeman in January 2015 and the next day shot four people dead on a Jew. supermarket, before being killed by the police
The threat came when the witness, a policewoman working in an anti-terrorist unit, told the court about her account of Polat’s conversion to radical Islamism
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She said Polat « shared the religious beliefs of her friend Amedy Coulibaly » and recounted a conversation between Polat’s mother and a friend recorded in a wiretap
The mother, the police officer said, told the friend that Polat called her an ‘unbeliever’ and a ‘pervert’
From behind the glass of the defendants’ box, Polat repeatedly raised his fist, mimicking the punches on the officer during his testimony, and was called to order by the court
Chief prosecutor Jean-Michel Bourles, calling the Polat explosion a « scandal », said he would press charges against him for « threats against a person testifying on behalf of public authorities »
Polat’s lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, admitted that her client, who earned a reputation as a hothead during the trial, « sometimes loses his temper » but said his reactions were those of « someone who believes to be unjustly accused »
Polat, she said, had specifically responded to the part of the testimony about her relationship with her mother
« She can lie about me, but not about my family, » Polat shouted, warning the officer that: « My brother-in-law is coming »
When the trial resumed after a lunch break, Polat apologized to the court and said he had not actually threatened the policewoman
But the chief justice, Regis de Jorna, told him: « you know very well what you are doing and what you are saying » and warned him: « If you ever threaten this investigator or anyone again another, you will be banned from the trial «
Polat, 35, faces the most serious charge of the 14 alleged accomplices on trial, complicity in terrorist crimes, and could face life imprisonment if found guilty
Born in Istanbul, Polat moved to France at the age of three and said he fell into petty crime at the age of 13 or 14, before he started selling drugs. grew up in the same hectic Parisian suburb of Grigny as Amedy Coulibaly
Polat and the other suspects were put on trial on September 2, charged with aiding the killers of 12 people in the attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, a policewoman the next day and four hostage men take in a Jewish supermarket
Suspect, November 2015 attacks in Paris, police officer, terrorism
News from the world – UA – « You will pay »: a suspect from the Paris kosher market warns a police witness during the trial
