He has been acting on Twitter for over a year. A 19-year-old young man was sentenced on Tuesday in Lille to 13 months in prison and 12 months probationary for “apologizing for terrorism” and “provocation to commit an act of terrorism”.
The court also found him guilty of having detained and transported several “category D” weapons (over the counter), without legitimate reason, including 4.5 mm caliber pistols, a pellet gun, a telescopic baton. , various ammunition or even a hunting crossbow.
An “extremist vision of Islam”
During the searches, justice had also discovered two usurped license plates and balaclavas in his vehicle, as well as several books defending an “extremist vision of Islam”, summarized the president.
Ilies Z., a high school student in professional bac at the time of the facts, without a criminal record, was arrested in July in the Lille metropolitan area and placed in pre-trial detention. Justice accuses him of 22 tweets, published between April 2020 and May 2021, which praised acts of terrorism committed in France and abroad, in particular claimed by the Islamic State group, “glorified” the perpetrators of the attack or were “praising death as a martyr”, listed the judge.
He notably relayed propaganda videos calling for jihad, through the voices of Fabien Clain – identified as the man who recorded the audio message claiming the November 13 attacks – or Adrien Guihal, also known as a spokesperson for the terrorist organization.
“Devoid of empathy”
In messages, he also called for “going on the ground to free the brothers” or considered IS attacks as “reprisals” for the French bombing. He still justified the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty, “comparing the murderer to a companion of the prophet”, recalled the representative of the prosecutor.
The expert psychologist describes, moreover, the defendant as “of an intellectual level slightly above the average”, but “devoid of empathy”, “which questions the sincerity”, she said, claiming five years imprisonment including 18 months probationary suspension.
“I didn’t realize”
” I am sorry, […] I did not realize, assured Ilies Z. When you put all that together, it can seem big, […] but I wasn’t planning on doing anything or assaulting anyone at all. […] Weapons were pure leisure ”, claiming to have been carried away by“ the group effect ”.
“If there was the slightest element suggesting that he was preparing something, this file would not be here”, but “under investigation” before a specialized court, launched the lawyer of Ilies Z., Me Nicolas Van den Bossche. He called for “avoiding” his return to prison, calling for psychological and socio-judicial follow-up by a specialized organization, with a view to “returning to normal life”.