At the trial of the July 14, 2016 attack in Nice, the special assize court began to examine the personality of the seven defendants and the facts with which they are charged. This Wednesday, she became interested in Mohamed Ghraieb, a 46-year-old Franco-Tunisian, prosecuted for terrorist criminal association.
With our special correspondent at the Paris courthouse, Laura Martel
In addition to his numerous contacts with the killer Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, Mohamed Ghraieb is accused, among others, of having traveled with him on July 11 aboard the future ram truck. Clean-shaven, graying hair, the accused speaks calmly, but his answers are brief and often evasive.
” You know, it is decisive that we can identify your personality and appreciate your sincerity », pushes the president. But the accused remains tight-lipped about his happy and comfortable childhood in Tunisia in a family ” opened “. The mother, a bookseller, and the father, a school principal, value work and instil in their children that they ” can vote for everything, except Islamist “, insists his sister. This Mohamed if “ kindly », animal lover, who « doesn’t even know how to pray correctly », « him, radicalized or a terrorist? It’s unimaginable “, she is offended.
UMP card
Over the course of the questions, the person concerned ended up describing himself as happy with his family, ” very well integrated in France thanks to his work as a receptionist. He even took his card from the UMP, the ancestor of the Les Républicains party. But he often helps himself, unable to be precise on subjects as trivial as the meeting place with his Finnish wife. Even when it was without stakes, Mr. Ghraieb did not help himself. He often responds at least starting with a lie before later settling on the truth », remarks the counter-terrorism investigator.
” Me, I just want to end this story, to be cleared “, breathes Mohamed Ghraieb who had presented himself to the police the day after the attack. He had then admitted to having climbed into the killer’s truck four days earlier, but denied any knowledge of his terrorist project. On this point, the investigator also provided arguments in his defense. ” You imply that the accused was unaware that Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was going to use the truck to commit an attack “says the president. ” Clearly yes “replies the investigator.
► Read also: Nice attack: a killer with an elusive profile and motivations