Cablegate: Djamel Beghal Convicted, Receives 10-Year Sentence

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS PARIS 001732

SIPDIS

STATE FOR S/CT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV KJUS FR
SUBJECT: DJAMEL BEGHAL CONVICTED, RECEIVES 10-YEAR SENTENCE

1. (U) Summary: Djamel Beghal, the ringleader of a group
arrested in 2001 on suspicion of planning to bomb the U.S.
Embassy in Paris, was convicted March 15 of "terrorist
conspiracy," and received a maximum 10-year sentence. His
five accomplices were all found guilty as well, and received
sentences ranging from one year to nine years in prison. End
summary.

2. (U) Beghal was arrested July 28, 2001 at the Dubai airport
in the United Arab Emirates. After being questioned by local
authorities, he was transferred to France and charged with
"terrorist conspiracy." A police and judicial investigation
opened September 10, 2001 accused Beghal and five accomplices
of planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris with a
bomb-laden truck driven by a suicide bomber. The
investigation, led by investigating judges Jean-Louis
Bruguiere and Jean-Francois Ricard, ended in 2004 and the
trial of Beghal and his accomplices began at the end of 2004.

3. (U) During the six-week trial, Beghal maintained his
innocence, and said a confession he had given in Dubai was
coerced by torture. Furthermore, he said the 45,000 page
dossier compiled by the terrorist investigating judges was
filled with nothing more than proof that Beghal and his five
co-defendants were friends. On February 9, the prosecutor
requested that Beghal and Kamel Daoudi receive a 10-year
sentence, Nabil Bounour and Abdelkrim Lefkir receive eight
years, Rachid Benmessahel receive six years and Johan Bonte
receive five years. In the decision announced March 15, the
judge gave Beghal the maximum ten-year sentence. He gave
Daoudi nine years, Bounour and Lefkir six years, Benmessahel
three years and Bonte one year. Immediately after the
verdict, lawyers for Beghal and Daoudi declared they would
appeal. One of Beghal's lawyers, Jean-Alain Michel, said the
verdict was a "judicial parody" and "our judicial
Guantanamo."

4. (SBU) Comment: Judicial contacts and Embassy observers to
the Beghal trial noticed that things were not going well for
the ringleader when, from the very beginning, he engaged in
frequent (and tense) arguments with the presiding judge.
Today's decision is a clear win for the anti-terrorism
specialists within the French government. End comment.
Leach

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