Chokri Chafroud and Mohamed Ghraieb were sentenced at first instance to 18 years in prison.
The two men sentenced to eighteen years’ imprisonment at the trial of the Nice attack have appealed the verdict of the special assize court in Paris, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (Pnat) told AFP on Monday December 26. ).
After more than three months of hearing, Chokri Chafroud and Mohamed Ghraieb were found guilty on December 13 of terrorist criminal association for their involvement in the ram truck attack which left 86 dead and 450 injured. July 14, 2016. The assailant, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, was killed by the police.
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The assailant, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, was killed by the police after his murderous race. The other six defendants, sentenced to between two and twelve years in prison, decided not to appeal the verdict. “Only Chokri Chafroud and Mohamed Ghraieb appealed the decision rendered by the Assize Court“, indicated the Pnat.
By sentencing these two men to eighteen years in prison, the court had gone beyond the requisitions of the anti-terrorist prosecution, which had claimed fifteen years in prison against them. “The seriousness of the acts committed by Mohamed Ghraieb and Chokri Chafroud is quite exceptional“, had estimated the special assize court of Paris.
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“Ideological Convergence”
In her motivations, she noted “an ideological convergencebetween Mr. Ghraieb, a 47-year-old Franco-Tunisian, and the perpetrator of the attack and had notably pointed to the sum of 2,000 euros that he had given him the day before the attack to buy him a car.
According to the court, Mr. Ghraieb “knew that by giving this sum in cash to a radicalized person, who also held a hate speech, supported the perpetrators of attacks and who had provided himself with the logistical means for a violent act, he was contributing to preparation for a terrorist act“.
The court also made Chokri Chafroud, a 43-year-old Tunisian national, “a true instigator of the attack, not in the religious or ideological motives of his action but in the choice of his modus operandi“. It was based in particular on the messages exchanged on Facebook with Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, where Mr. Chafroud suggested to his friend to use “a truck as a weapon of destruction“.
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