Ivorian prosecutor seeks life for 4 suspects over 2016 assault

An Ivorian prosecutor demanded Wenesday ( Dec. 21) a life sentence for 4 suspects allegedly concerned within the 2016 machine-gun assault on a seaside resort that killed 19.

He additionally requested for all times for 14 different suspects being tried in absentia. They’re both on the run or being held in neighbouring Mali.

The legal professionals of the 4 defendants who stood earlier than the Abidjan court docket had demanded acquittal for his or her shoppers. They claimed that the prosecution lacked “proof” of their complicity with the perpetrators of the assault.

All 18 had been charged for acts of terrorism, homicide, tried homicide, felony concealment, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition “and complicity in these deeds”.

In the course of the trial, many witnesses to the assault, together with the proprietor of one of many focused accommodations and a member of the particular forces who shot the attackers, took the stand to recount the day of March 13, 2016. 

The decision is predicted on December 28.

The tragedy is considered one of West Africa’s bloodiest jihadist assaults.

On March 13, 2016, armed males attacked Grand-Bassam, a vacationer complicated fashionable with foreigners mendacity east of the capital Abidjan.

4 French nationals, 9 Ivorians, a Lebanese, a German, a Macedonian, a Malian, a Nigerian and an unidentified particular person had been killed within the assault that left 33 individuals individuals injured.

The 45-minute massacre ended when Ivorian safety forces shot lifeless the three attackers.

Al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate, Al-Qaeda within the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), claimed accountability the identical day.