A court in Paris on Thursday sentenced Ali Riza Polat to life imprisonment for complicity in a terrorist attack and Amar Ramdani to 13 years for conspiring with the attackers during the 2015 attack on the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo.
“CPJ welcomes the sentencing of Ali Riza Polat and Amar Ramdani in an appeal trial, ending the lengthy judicial process for the deadly 2015 terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “This verdict sends an important message to violent extremists that they will not have the last word and their attempts to silence free speech will not prevail.”
On January 7, 2015, heavily armed and hooded shooters attacked the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, injuring 11 people and killing 12, including eight journalists. The Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda took responsibility for the attack.
Polat and Ramdani were the only defendants to appeal the 2020 verdict, which found 14 people guilty, according to news reports.
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