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French Prosecutor Seeks Terrorism Charges Against Suspect in Decapitation Attack
French Prosecutor Seeks Terrorism Charges Against Suspect in Decapitation Attack
(about 3 hours later)
PARIS — The chief prosecutor here said on Tuesday that he had requested that multiple charges of terrorism be brought against Yassine Salhi, who is accused of decapitating his boss and attempting to set off a major explosion last week at a branch of an American chemical and gas company.
PARIS — The chief prosecutor here said Tuesday that he had requested that multiple charges of terrorism be brought against Yassine Salhi, who is accused of decapitating his boss and trying to set off a major explosion last week at a branch of an American chemical and gas company.
The prosecutor, François Molins, speaking at a news conference, said that “all the elements in this case show that from the eve of the attack he had conceived his criminal, terrorist project,” although he did not rule out the possibility that Mr. Salhi had personal motives as well.
The prosecutor, François Molins, speaking at a news conference, said that “all the elements in this case show that from the eve of the attack he had conceived his criminal, terrorist project,” although he did not rule out that Mr. Salhi may have had personal motives as well.
In France, the prosecutor opens a formal investigation and requests that charges be filed, a decision that is then left to the discretion of an investigating judge.
A judge later in the day assented to all of the prosecutor’s requests and Mr. Salhi, who worked at a delivery company, will remain in custody.
The charges requested by Mr. Molins include participation in a terrorist conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist act.
The charges requested by Mr. Molins include participation in a terrorist conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist act.
Investigators said that when Mr. Salhi was questioned about the events in southeastern France, he had denied having had any terrorist motivation, contending that he was angry at his employer for harshly scolding him for dropping a pallet of valuable material.
Investigators said that Mr. Salhi, who will remain in custody, denied having had any terrorist motivation, contending that he was angry at his employer for harshly scolding him for dropping a pallet of valuable material.
Mr. Molins connected the dots between disparate pieces of information about Mr. Salhi, some of which point toward terrorism and others toward an unstable man who simply wanted revenge on his employer.
The prosecutor’s conclusion of terrorist motives was based on information from Mr. Salhi, from security cameras that filmed part of the attack in southeastern France and from data retrieved from his cellphone, which he used to send two photos of his victim’s body. One showed the body with an Islamist flag draped on it and with the head placed on its torso; the other showed him posing next to the body.
The prosecutor’s conclusion that Mr. Salhi had terrorist motives was based on a combination of information obtained from Mr. Salhi, security cameras that filmed part of the attack and the data retrieved from his cellphone, which he used to send two photos of his victim’s body. One picture showed the body with an Islamic flag draped on it and with the head placed on its torso; the other, taken by Mr. Salhi, showed him posing next to the body.
Prosecutors said that Mr. Salhi was in touch with a man who left France for Syria in November and who used to live in the French city of Besançon, where Mr. Salhi also lived for several years. The man appears to have joined the Islamic State extremist group, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that Mr. Salhi was in touch with man who left France for Syria in November 2014 and who used to live in the eastern French city of Besançon, where Mr. Salhi also lived for several years. The man, Sébastien-Younès V. (Mr. Molins gave only the initial of the man’s last name) appears to have joined the Islamic State extremist group, prosecutors said.
Mr. Salhi and his sister, who was questioned and released, told investigators that he had spent time in Syria in 2009, before the Islamic State was formed. He went with his family and told investigators that he was studying Arabic, although he told a few acquaintances that he also studied the Quran there.
Mr. Salhi and his sister, who was questioned and released, told investigators that he had spent time in Syria in 2009, before the Islamic State was formed. Investigators have not recovered his passport, but they hope to find evidence of his travels once they do. He went to Syria with his family and told investigators that he was studying Arabic, although he told a few acquaintances that he also studied the Quran there.
“When one goes to a Quranic school it is not to study Arabic, it is for something else entirely,” Mr. Molins said, seeming to imply that there had been a radical element to his studies.
“When one goes to a Quranic school it is not to study Arabic, it is for something else entirely,” said Mr. Molins, who did not elaborate, but seemed to imply that there was a radical element to his studies.
It is unclear to what degree, if any, Mr. Salhi was involved with extremists during his time in Syria, but there is much less doubt about whether his actions Friday were premeditated, according to prosecutors.
It is unclear to what degree, if any, Mr. Salhi was involved with extremists during his time in Syria, but there is much less doubt about whether the macabre events of Friday were premeditated, according to details released by prosecutors.
They said that the night before the attack, Mr. Salhi, a resident of a suburb of Lyon, painted a fake gun to make it look real, and then took it and a kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade to work at a delivery company the next morning. He loaded his utility truck with gas canisters and lured his employer, Hervé Cornara, 54, into the back of the truck.
The night before the attack, Mr. Salhi painted a fake gun to make it look real, and the next morning he took it and a kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade to work. He loaded his utility truck with gas canisters and then found “a false pretext” to ask his employer, Hervé Cornara, 54, to come into the back of the truck.
Mr. Salhi hit him over the head with a car jack, and strangled him, they said. He drove with the body toward the Air Products factory, where he often made deliveries, but stopped nearby and decapitated Mr. Cornara.
Mr. Salhi then hit him over the head with a car jack, and, once he was unconscious, strangled him. He drove with the body toward the Air Products factory, where he often made deliveries, but stopped about 1,600 feet away and decapitated Mr. Cornara.
Mr. Salhi placed the head on the metal fence around the factory “for maximal publicity,” Mr. Molins said, and drove his truck into a hangar on the site, apparently aiming to explode the gas canisters. The canisters contained nitrogen and other gases, and although there was an explosion, it was not large.
The autopsy was not conclusive about whether Mr. Cornara was already dead when he was decapitated.
Mr. Salhi’s efforts to set off another explosion caught the attention of firefighters who had arrived, witnesses said, and they heard him shouting, “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic. A firefighter seized Mr. Salhi, and he was soon arrested.
Mr. Salhi placed the head on the metal fence around the factory’s perimeter, “for maximal publicity” Mr. Molins said. He then drove his truck, which was loaded with gas canisters, into one of two hangars on the site, with the apparent goal of setting off an explosion.
The attack, which occurred on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, came after a well-publicized call by the Islamic State for attacks on non-Muslims during the holiday.
The canisters in the hangar contained liquid air, nitrogen and other gases, and although there was an explosion, it was not large.
Mr. Salhi’s tensions were not limited to his employer. He complained to his wife that she was not religious enough in text messages found by investigators.
There were about 75 people at work at the Air Products site at the time, and there could have been many casualties had Mr. Salhi been successful, Mr. Molins said.
Mr. Salhi first came to the attention of the intelligence services in 2003 because of his links to the Salafist movement, a fundamentalist strain of Sunni Islam. He visited Morocco and Saudi Arabia in 2003 and 2004, and that year he became friendly with Frédéric Jean Salvi, an extremist Islamist called Grand Ali. That relationship led the intelligence services to flag Mr. Salhi as a security risk in 2006, although the authorities removed him from their active watch list in 2008 for unknown reasons.
When neither the truck nor the hangar fully exploded, Mr. Salhi left the truck and went into a second hangar to open more gas canisters. His efforts caught the attention of firefighters who had arrived on the scene, witnesses said, and they heard him shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic, a frequent cry of Islamic extremists as they carry out assaults. A firefighter seized Mr. Salhi, and he was put under arrest soon after.
He again caught the attention of French intelligence after becoming close to someone with ties to a French extremist group known as the Forsane Alizza movement. Shortly after the attack Mr. Molins said Mr. Salhi had been under surveillance from 2006 to 2008, but the French authorities had not previously released details about his travels and his more recent tiesto people with extremist connections.
The attack, which occurred on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, came after a well-publicized call on the Internet by the Islamic State for attacks on non-Muslims during the holiday.
“The wise and intelligent is the one who aspires to continue jihad and battle in Ramadan,” said a message from the Islamic State spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, as translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist propaganda. “Oh mujahedeen everywhere, rush and move to make Ramadan a month of disasters for the unbelievers.”
Mr. Salhi’s tensions were not limited to his employer. He complained that his wife was not religious enough in text messages he exchanged with her that were found by investigators, and he expressed the same belief in messages to an acquaintance using WhatsApp.
His links to radicalism date to 2003, when he first came to the attention of the intelligence services because of his links to the Salafist movement, a fundamentalist strain of Sunni Islam.
He visited Morocco and Saudi Arabia in 2003 and 2004, although it is not clear whether those trips were connected with the development of any radical beliefs. But in 2004, he became friendly with Frédéric Jean Salvi, an extremist Islamist nicknamed “Grand Ali,” who converted to Islam while in prison. That relationship led the intelligence services to flag Mr. Salhi as a security risk in 2006, although the authorities removed him from their active watch list in 2008 for unknown reasons.
He again caught the attention of French intelligence after becoming close to an individual with connections to a French extremist group known as the Forsane Alizza movement. And in 2014 a neighbor reported to the police that Mr. Salhi was holding religious meetings at his home.
While Mr. Molins said in a news conference shortly after the attack that Mr. Salhi had been under surveillance from 2006 to 2008, the information about his travels and his more recent ties to a series of people with extremist connections had not previously been disclosed by the French authorities.
