Charlie Hebdo attack: Primary suspect denies charges, says 'I am innocent'

A primary suspect in the trial of the 2015 massacre at Charlie Hebdo office and elsewhere in Paris on September 4 reportedly denied any responsibility for the attacks. According to international media reports, Ali Riza Polat, a Franco-Turkish man, was jailed a few weeks after the terror attack with investigators saying that he tried to flee the country several times heading for Syria. However, the 35-year-old reportedly said that he is ‘innocent’ and added that people are ‘lying’ with ‘all sorts of nonsense’. 

Polat was born in Istanbul and he moved to France when he was three. He reportedly said that he fell into petty crime when he was 13 or 14, later starting to deal with drugs. According to reports, he grew up in the same Paris suburb of Grigny as Amedy Coulibaly, who killed a police officer and four people at the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket before being killed by cops. 

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Polat is reportedly suspected of helping provide weapons for all gunmen. He is facing the most serious charge among the 14 accused - complicity in a terrorist act, which carries a potential life sentence. However, the 35-year-old insisted that he had no role in the attacks. Polat reportedly said that he has nothing to with them. ‘You cannot kill the innocent, I am not violent,’ he added. 

The trial of Polat and thirteen suspects accused of aiding the three gunmen opening on September 2, and it is set to run until November. 

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Charlie Hebdo attack 

As per reports, the attack that sent shockwaves through France began on January 7, 2015, and it sparked a series of jihadist attacks on French soil, including ‘lone wolf’ killings by people said to be inspired by the Islamic State group that has since claimed over 250 lives. The horrifying attacks started with the Kouachi brothers going on a killing spree in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, which is a French satirical weekly. The following day, Coulibaly, who was an acquaintance of Cherif Kouachi, reportedly killed a female police officer. On January 9, he then killed four Jewish men at a kosher supermarket and said that he acted in the name of Islamic State. 

While the three assailants were killed by police, prosecutors reportedly said that they will be focusing on ‘little helpers’ suspected of providing weapons or organisational support. National anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricardo reportedly said that it is about an individual who is involved in the logistics, the preparation of the events, who provided means of financing, operational material, weapons, a residence. Ricardo added that the relatives of the victims and others would testify. 

(Image: @Thisees1981/Twitter) 

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