A Frenchman, of Armenian origin, belonging to the Yezidi community was sentenced on Tuesday, February 8, to twelve years’ imprisonment for “participation in a terrorist criminal association” by the special assize court of Paris.
The court followed the submissions of the Advocate General, who had demanded a sentence of twelve years’ imprisonment with a two-thirds security period against Arthium Aloyan, 33, who, during the summer 2015, had joined the ranks of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaida. Arthium Aloyan faced thirty years of imprisonment.
“The Paris Assize Court was convinced of the guilt of Arthium Aloyan with regard to the crime with which he is charged”said President David Hill as he delivered the verdict. “It is worth recalling the evidence of the terrorist nature of the Jabhat Al-Nusra organization, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, which carried out intense jihadist activity, having distinguished itself, among other things, by the commission of atrocities and attacks especially in the Iraqi-Syrian zone”recalled Mr. Hill.
“It emerges from the investigation and the debates that, contrary to what he claimed, Arthium Aloyan left France with the plan already decided on to go to Syria to knowingly join a terrorist group whose criminal activities were then widely publicized”added the president of the assize court.
Arrested in Turkey in August 2016
During his indictment, the Advocate General asked “just punishment”. “Justice is the sword, but also the scales”she said. “My job is not to make sure [l’accusé] take the maximum, but to defend the general interest”she pointed out.
Born in Armenia, then Soviet, came to France with his parents, political refugees, in 2002, Arthium Aloyan had converted to Islam in 2012, to the chagrin of his family from the Yazidi community, hated by the Islamists. Arthium Aloyan left for Turkey and then Syria in 2015, without telling his relatives, in particular his companion, a Christian, mother of their two children, born in 2008 and 2010.
Arthium Aloyan admitted during the hearing to have fought in the ranks of the Al-Nusra Front, whose terrorist nature he persisted in contesting. “Al-Nusra is not a terrorist organization. This is a western view.he said. “I don’t think it’s a crime to fight a bully [le président syrien Bachar Al-Assad]. With Al-Nusra, it was soldiers against soldiers. They didn’t kill women or kids.”he argued.
Arrested in the Turkish border town of Hatay in August 2016, he has already been tried and sentenced by Turkish justice to four years and two months in prison, then expelled to France in February 2019. He had been in pre-trial detention since that day.
During his arrest in France, the investigators found him in possession of a text written in French advocating armed jihad. That “demonstrates the persistence of its ideological anchoring”the court said.
Regarding his first conviction in Turkey, the Advocate General pointed out that one could not “not act as if the condemnation [de M. Aloyan] in Turkey did not exist”. “Arthium Aloyan has already served two and a half years in prison under the Turkish sentence” ; However, she added, “Is the Turkish sentence likely to be confused with a possible sentence that will be pronounced today? The answer is no “.
