It all began on a Sunday evening after 9 pm, when the gendarmes were called by the occupants of a flat in Figeac (Lot), who were confronted by a man armed with a knife and a grenade who was shouting: “Allahu akbar”. With more than twenty entries on his criminal record, including a conviction for aiding and abetting murder and a preventive measure against terrorist acts, the 42-year-old defendant’s past did not look favourable before the court in Cahors (Lot). The story of a chaotic evening fuelled by alcohol, set against a backdrop of a life marked by violence and multiple convictions.
“I’ve got a grenade, I’m going to explode it, we’re all going to blow up”: these death threats, made on Sunday June 7 in Figeac, led to Sébastien* facing an immediate trial on Friday June 12.
In the dock at the court in Cahors (Lot), the man insists he is innocent, explaining that he wanted to help one of his girlfriends who had been abducted by drug dealers. He had already told this to the gendarmes who intervened that Sunday. Shortly after 9 pm, the flat’s occupants had called the police to report that a man armed with a knife and a pink-and-green grenade had threatened to kill them and shouted “Allahu akbar”.
“My time is short, because it has only just begun,” replied the defendant to the judges’ questions.
“My client was drunk; that is completely incompatible with a strict observance of Islam.”