Attack on Christmas market
Strasbourg Islamist helper faces 30 years in prison
April 5, 2024, 12:07 a.m
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Five people lost their lives at the Christmas market in Strasbourg in 2018. The Islamist perpetrator is shot dead by the police. A helper who got him the weapons is sentenced to a long prison sentence in Paris.
A good five years after the attack on the Strasbourg Christmas market that left five dead, a court in Paris sentenced one of the perpetrators’ aides to a 30-year prison sentence. 42-year-old Audrey Mondjehi was found guilty of “terrorist organization” because of his “close proximity” to the perpetrator who was shot dead by the police. “He knew about the strong radicalization (of the perpetrator),” says the reasons for the verdict published in the evening.
Mondjehi, who comes from Ivory Coast, admitted in court that he had served as a middleman in the purchase of weapons. However, he emphasized that he did not know what the perpetrator Cherif Chekatt intended to do with it. According to the investigators’ assessment, Mondjehi was “involved in all phases of preparation and execution”. “I will regret what happened for the rest of my life,” he said in court.
The 29-year-old perpetrator had already been convicted of common crimes several times before the attack and was listed as an Islamist in the list of dangerous offenders. He left a video in which he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia. The organization then claimed responsibility for the attack.
Three other men charged
Chekatt was armed with a Lebel revolver and a kitchen knife. His victims included two young journalists from Italy and Poland, an Afghan-French father of three small children, a Strasbourg pensioner and a Thai tourist. The perpetrator initially fled in a taxi. The police found him two days after the crime. He was shot during a shootout with police.
In addition to Mondjehi, three other men were charged. Two of them were sentenced to four and five years in prison respectively. They had been involved to a lesser extent in the procurement of weapons. A fourth defendant was acquitted. An 83-year-old suspected arms dealer is due to appear in court later due to health problems. The attack left deep scars in Strasbourg. The Christmas market, which is also popular with foreign tourists, has been heavily secured since then.