The attack on the Strasbourg Christmas market

As the trial of the Christmas market attack in Strasbourg has just ended, Zoé Muller, a master's student in history in Paris 1, specializing in the issue of terrorism, who conducted an internship in the pre-figuration mission and joined the exhibition station, traces the main lines of this attack and its judicial follow-up.

The terrorist attack perpetrated on 11 December 2018 by Cherif Chekatt at the Christmas market in Strasbourg (Christkindelsmärik, the market for the child Jesus) is an Islamist terrorist attack that killed five people (Barto Pedro Orent-Niedzielski)1Antonio Megalizzi, Pascal Verdenne, Anupong Suebsamarn and Kamal Naghchband) and injured eleven others. Cherif Chekatt, 29 years old and previously known to the judicial authorities2 for a series of ordinary offences, had shown signs of radicalisation. Law enforcement, mobilized in a 48-hour manhunt3finally shot down the terrorist not far from his place of residence. The attack provoked an international reaction of condemnation and indignation.

The facts

First search

In the early morning of December 11, 2018, the gendarmes of the research brigade, in collaboration with the DGSI4, go to Cherif Chekatt's home to carry out his arrest in the context of an investigation concerning charges of attempted murder, aggravated violence and the association of criminals. However, the individual in question is absent at that time.5. Despite his absence, the search at his home revealed the presence of a loaded gun .22 Long Rifle, a defensive grenade, as well as several ammunition and four knives, including two hunting knives6.

The bombing

At 7:45 p.m., Cherif Chekatt entered the city centre of Strasbourg by the Corbeau bridge, surrounded by the arms of the river Ill. This access point, located south of the area under surveillance, was subject to security checks, including inspection of bags by security officers. These checks were usually completed at 8 p.m. on weekdays, just before the killer crossed that crossing. His itinerary then leads him near the chalets of the Christmas market, from there he enters the narrow streets of the medieval district of Strasbourg and reaches the rue des Orfèvres. He killed his first victims around 10 rue des Orfèvres, a popular tourist street, at 7:48 p.m. Along the chalets of the Christmas market on the Temple-Neuf square, he then turned to the Place du Marché-Neuf. From there, it crosses the Sainte-Marguerite alley, leading to the Rue des Grandes-Arcades, one of the main north-south axes of the city. It is in front of the medieval arcades that he makes his second victim. After reaching the Rue du Saumon, he attacked an individual who was leaving a restaurant. Later, he crossed the tramways through Rue des Francs-Bourgeois and reached the streets of La Demi-Lune, Sainte-Barbe and Sainte-Hélène. In the Rue du Savon, musicians standing in front of the establishment, Les Savons d'Hélène, are seriously injured by the attacker. He then returned to the south of the Grand Island and crossed the Saint-Martin Bridge again, thus reaching the busy area of the Petite-France, where he killed a Thai tourist. At 1958 hours, the terrorist managed to escape by taking a taxi driver (Mostafa Salhane) hostage after exchanging fire with four soldiers of Operation Sentinel. During this exchange of fire, he was wounded in his arm, while a Sentinel soldier was slightly injured in his hand by a ricochet from the attacker's shots. The taxi driver finally managed to escape (see his interview in the January/February newsletter).

On 13 January, at 9 p.m., in the Neudorf district, Cherif Chekatt was spotted by a specialized field brigade composed of three police officers, after two days of tracking more than 700 law enforcement personnel. After an armed confrontation where the terrorist opened fire on the police officers, the latter responded and managed to neutralize him.7.

The claim

A few minutes after Cherif Chekatt's death on the evening of December 13, 2018, the Islamic State claims the attack on Strasbourg through the agency dependent on its propaganda organ, Amaq8. This claim arises in a context where the Islamic State, having suffered setbacks in the Middle East in 2017, has a tendency to attack itself without necessarily being the author of the attack, so the claim will lead to heated debate.

Press reports quickly after demand for the attack on Strasbourg by an Islamic State soldier9 the press release remains vague. This claim is considered unbelievable by interior minister Christophe Castaner10However, ten days after the events, it is announced in the press that the authorities discovered a video of Cherif Chekatt's allegiance to the Islamic State group on a USB drive belonging to the latter11.

A few days after the attack, the Franco-Iranian sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar described Cherif Chekatt as a jihadist false, indicating that the radicalization of Chekatt was only marginally linked to Islam; the latter would serve to legitimize a desire for revenge and to promote the individual, who becomes a figure mediated by religious terrorism12. This opinion is shared by sociologist Daniel Verba, professor at the Université Paris-XIII and researcher, notably in an article written for Le Monde13. However, the analyses of Khosrokhavar and Verba are criticized and described as "denegationist" by Hugo Micheron, researcher at ENS, Bernard Rougier, senior member of the Institut universitaire de France, and Gilles Kepel, professor of universities at the University of Paris-Sciences-et-Lettres. In a rostrum, the latter claim that considering Cherif Chekatt's motivations as unrelated to Islam constitutes a denial of the links between Salafism and jihadism14.

For journalist Wassim Nasr, a specialist in jihadist movements, the claims of attacks by the Islamic State do not follow clear rules. According to him, the jihadists tend to claim attacks after the terrorist's death, in order not to provide additional information to the authorities during their investigation or tracking, and also not to assist the justice system in establishing facts and imposing severe penalties for the arrest of the terrorist. With regard to Cherif Chekatt, Wassim Nasr claims that there are sufficient elements corresponding to the ideology of the Islamic State to justify a claim of the attack. Since 2014, the Islamic State has been encouraging its supporters to carry out attacks on its behalf in Europe and promises to claim them afterwards. The Islamic State advises its aspirants not to contact him before the attacks, as this communication can help the security services defeat their operations. The organization always adapts to the security constraints of the countries where it attacks15.

Follow-up proceedings

The anti-terrorist section of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office quickly opened an investigation into murders, attempted murders in connection with a terrorist company, and an association of criminal terrorist criminals. An investigation into murder, attempted murder, and serious assault and injury was also opened by the German Public Prosecutor's Office, given the presence of German nationals during the attack. Six persons, including the assailant's parents and two of his brothers, who had been held in custody after the attack, were promptly released in the absence of criminal elements.

On 17 December 2018, Audrey Mondjehi is under investigation and remanded in custody for the complicit murder and attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise, and for attempts to assassinate persons who are the custodians of public authority, and for the association of terrorist criminals in order to prepare crimes against persons.

1and February 2019, three men are also charged on the same counts and placed in pre-trial detention, suspected of having played a role in the provision of the XIX revolvere The terrorist has used a century: Stéphane Bodein (a related offence of criminal association to prepare a crime), Frédéric Bodein (a related offence of criminal association to prepare a crime) and Albert Bodein (a charge of criminal association to prepare a crime).

On 14 May 2019, five new people were arrested as part of the verification of the weapons held by Cherif Chekatt, and another on the following day.
Finally, on 17 May, Christian Hoffmann was charged and placed in pre-trial detention for
He is suspected of having played a role in the supply of weapons to the terrorist. He is charged with a related offence of conspiracy to prepare a crime. The other five suspects are released.

On 14 December 2022, five accused were returned to the specially composed assize court in Paris, but Audrey Mondjehi was the only one to be returned for terrorism, in accordance with the demands of the national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office. On 18 December 2023, one of the accused, Albert Bodein, who was suspected of having handed over the revolver to Mondjehi and Chekatt on the day of the attack and charged the leader of the criminal association with the preparation of a crime, was declared unfit to appear in the debate, given the medical findings that were linked to him and his age (84 years). The trial of the remaining four defendants, including the cousins of Albert Bodein, Stéphane and Frédéric, suspected of acting as intermediaries, opened on 29 February 2024, after a stay of indictment of 29 March 2023. All, except Mondjehi, appear free. The hearing was chaired by Ms Corinne Goetzmann, President of the Chamber at the Paris Court of Appeal. The Public Prosecutor's Office is represented by two Advocates General: one Deputy and the other First Deputy Attorney-General.

On 4 April 2024, Audrey Mondjehi, the main and only accused accused of terrorism, was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment, with a two-thirds security sentence and a ban on staying in French territory). Frédéric Bodein and Christian Hoffmann were sentenced respectively to four and five years' imprisonment for association of common criminals (with a warrant of detention for Christian Hoffmann), and Stéphane Bodein was acquitted.

Footnotes

1 Caroline Piquet, Geoffroy Tomasovich,

2 Willy Le Devin and Julie Brafman,

3 Karine G. Barzegar, Sophie Golstein with AFP,

4 FranceInfo,

5 Conference of the Prosecutor of the Republic of Paris Rémy Heitz

6 Le Monde,

7 Elise Vincent, Strasbourg's "Attentat": how the vice tightened on Cherif Chekatt, Le Monde, 14 December 2018

8 Romain Herreros,

9 Pierre Alonso,

10 Pierre Alonso, op. cit.

11 AFP, Attentat in Strasbourg: a video of allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State found on a USB drive belonging to Cherif Chekatt, FranceTvInfo, 22 December 2018

12 Farhad Khosrokhavar,

13 Daniel Verba, "The profile of Cherif Chekatt has been dominant for a long time," Le Monde, December 18, 2018.

14 Hugo Micheron, Bernard Rougier, Gilles Kepel,

15 Wassim Nasr, "Why did ISIS claim responsibility for the attack in Strasbourg two days after the facts?", Franceinfo, December 14, 2018