Gilles Le Guen alleged jihadist, ruled Monday in Paris – Le Figaro

The man was arrested in April 2013 in Mali. If jihadist convictions of this French 60 years old are not in doubt, the real degree of involvement with AQIM remains unclear.

Arrested in April 2013 by the French special forces in the region of Timbuktu, Mali, the alleged jihadist Gilles Le Guen appears Monday and Tuesday before the Paris Criminal Court. This 60-year-old French was indicted for criminal association in relation with a terrorist enterprise, offense punishable by ten years’ imprisonment in May 2013. He then was the first judicial investigation into the foundation of the law passed in late 2012, which allows for the prosecution of French suspected of involvement in terrorist acts abroad or cause to be parties to it.

At the time, the Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had said Gilles Le Guen, who called himself Abdul Jelil, “had obviously already fought in jihadist groups.” “This is a terrorist who becomes lost,” explained the Minister , describing “an individual derives from fanaticism.”

He holds a patent Merchant Navy obtained in the late 1980s, Breton converted to Islam long has traveled before s install in Morocco, Mauritania and Mali in the past five years with his second wife, a Moroccan. He was spotted in September 2012 in the ranks of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on a plate recovered by the French secret service. A member of the Malian security had explained that he lived with his family in northern Mali before the arrival of Islamists and had “married their ideas,” but the real commitment of this adventurer was far Breton turned out to be.

In a video posted early October 2012 on the Mauritanian news site Sahara Media, he warned “French presidents, American” and against UN intervention Military in Mali in preparation against armed Islamist groups who controlled northern pays.Vêtu a beige coat, a black turban, wearing a mustache and a goatee, Gilles Le Guen appeared before a black background bearing the symbol AQIM, a machine gun placed next to him. In November 2012, Gilles Le Guen was captured a few days by the leaders of AQIM in Timbuktu, some suspecting him of being a spy. According to other sources, he was arrested because he would have interposed to prevent jihadist manhandling women. His lawyer could not be reached before the trial, held before the 16th chamber.