Trèbes and Carcassonne attacks: Sentences increased on appeal to 12 years and 10 years in prison for two accused

Eight years after the attacks in Trèbes and Carcassonne, justice has significantly increased the sentences of two relatives of Radouane Lakdim. On Wednesday, the Paris Assize Court sentenced Marine Pequignot and Samir Manaa on appeal to 10 and 12 years of detention for “conspiracy of terrorist criminals”.

The two accused were much less heavily sanctioned at first instance. Marine Pequignot, girlfriend of the attacker, was sentenced to five years in prison, two of which were suspended. Samir Manaa, who accompanied Radouane Lakdim to buy a knife, was sentenced to three years. The attorney general had requested on appeal 16 and 20 years of imprisonment.

The accused were incarcerated after the verdict

Regarding Samir Manaa, now aged 32, the court found that he had “knowledge of Radouane Lakdim’s appetite for violence” when he took him to an armory. “That you did not share his radical ideology at the time has no effect,” declared the president, noting his “lack of questioning” and his “victim posture”.

For Marine Pequignot, the magistrates considered that she knew “the deadly designs of her boyfriend”. The court also considered that his “extreme radicalization was the result of a personal approach”. Both appeared free and were incarcerated after the verdict.

A third accused absent since his expulsion

On March 23, 2018, Radouane Lakdim, 25 years old and registered S, killed a person in Carcassonne before going to a supermarket in Trèbes, where three other people were killed. Among them was gendarme Arnaud Beltrame, who had taken the place of a woman held hostage. Radouane Lakdim was then shot dead by the intervention forces. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State organization.

Our file on the attacks