The appeal trial of French jihadist Tyler Vilus, an executive of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and a figure in francophone jihadism, opened on Monday, September 13, in Paris before the special assize court. Both fighter, squad leader, online proselyte, recruiter and ISIS police member, according to the prosecution, this “Integral jihadist” had been sentenced, in July 2020, to thirty years of criminal imprisonment at first instance.
Of an imposing size, his black hair combed in small braids, the 31-year-old accused must answer for crimes committed between 2013 and 2015 during his stay in Syria and appears detained. At the end of his first trial in 2020, the Assize Court found him guilty of all charges. But she had chosen not to pronounce the maximum sentence, life imprisonment, to give him a chance to” to evolve “, she explained, considering that he had started to question her deadly fanaticism. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office then appealed the decision.
Chance of the judicial calendar, the hearing coincides with the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris. These attacks were in part carried out by relatives of Tyler Vilus, who had fought with him in Syria. He had been arrested shortly before.
Member of the ISIS “immigrant brigade”
Arrived at the end of 2012 at the heart of the Syrian conflict, the out-of-school delinquent, converted to Islam the previous year, had quickly gained ground in the local jihadist sphere. In the summer of 2013, the one who calls himself Abu Hafs Al Faransi had thus become “Emir”, at the head of a battalion of several dozen French fighters. At the end of the same year, he then joined the ranks of the ultra-violent “immigrant brigade” of ISIS, a squad of foreign jihadists – mostly French and Belgian – which is rampant in the vicinity of Aleppo.
a “Group of friends” who tortures, massacres and beheads in the good humor of a ” summer camp “, summarized the wife of one of them, questioned by French intelligence. In this unit are, alongside Tyler Vilus, several of the future protagonists of the November 13 attacks, including their coordinator, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
Tyler Vilus was arrested in the summer of 2015 at Istanbul airport while trying to enter Europe under a false name, when IS was smuggling men to the continent to carry out mass killings. In detention, he sent an explicit message to Abdelhamid Abaaoud: “When I go out, I take action. “ The appeal verdict is expected on September 21.
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