Court of Cassation to Review Appeal of Paris Attacks Accomplice Jawad Bendaoud

Jawad Bendaoud will know on Tuesday the fate that the Court of Cassation reserves for his appeal. During a trial related to these attacks, he was tried for having housed Abdelhamid Abaaoud and his accomplice Chakib Akrouh, who took refuge in Saint-Denis after the attacks. These attacks had left 130 dead in Saint-Denis and Paris where the two terrorists died in the assault of the RAID police, on November 18, 2015, with an accomplice and cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Hasna Aït Boulhacen.

In 2019, he had been sentenced to four years in prison for "receiving terrorist criminals" after being acquitted at first instance in February 2018. The Franco-Moroccan has always claimed his innocence. In addition to the prison sentence which is final, he was also ordered to pay damages to hundreds of civil parties: victims of the attacks, families, police officers, residents of the building concerned. Jawad Bendaoud then decided to file an appeal on this part before the Court of Cassation.

As for his co-defendant, Youssef Aït Boulahcen, who was also sentenced to four years in prison for "non-denunciation of a terrorist crime", he contested the sentence before the high court. The brother of Hasna Aït Boulhacen is accused of not having denounced the new attack that his cousin was planning. "The Attorney General, whose role in the Court of Cassation is to defend the law, has ruled for the dismissal of these appeals. At the end of the hearing, the decision will be taken under advisement for several weeks," specifies the AFP. If the Court rules in favor of Jawad Bendaoud, a hearing on civil interests could be ordered.