The appeals hearing of an Algerian sentenced to life in prison last year for a series of Paris bomb attacks in 1995 that left eight people dead and 200 others wounded opened Monday in a special Paris court. Boualem Bensaid, 35, was convicted last year of planting the bombs used in two attacks and helping to plan a third bombing in the French capital between July and October 1995. But on appeal, the court will focus on the deadly attack in a commuter train at the Saint Michel station in the Latin Quarter that killed eight people, as Bensaid was originally only convicted as an accomplice in that incident. Bensaid has denied all involvement in the Saint Michel bombing, which left 150 people wounded, and his lawyer has asked that he be acquitted on that charge.
| "Nope. Nope. Wudn't me. Youse can't prove nuttin'. The witnesses are all dead!" |
Bensaid is the sole defendant at the appeals hearing, as his original co-defendant Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, also sentenced to life in prison, has given up his right to appeal.
| "Awright, coppers! Yez got the goods on me!" |
A total of 11 attacks rocked Paris in the second half of 1995, for which Algeria's Armed Islamic Group (GIA) — which is deemed a terrorist organization by Paris and Washington — claimed responsibility. At the time of their conviction last year, Bensaid and Belkacem were both already serving 10-year terms in French prisons for belonging to the GIA. A verdict in Bensaid's appeals hearing is due on November 28. |