Othman Garrido sentenced to 30 years in prison for executions in Syria
Paris's special assizes court has sentenced French jihadist Othman Garrido to 30 years' imprisonment for murders committed as part of an organised group in Syria in 2015.
Thirty years' imprisonment for jihadist Othman Garrido from Montpellier
Paris's special assizes court sentenced Othman Garrido on Tuesday 22 September to thirty years' imprisonment for criminal acts, accompanied by a custodial period of two-thirds. The 32-year-old from Montpellier was accused of having been an executioner for the Islamic State organisation during a double public execution carried out in Syria in 2015.
According to Le Monde - Justice, Garrido was acquitted of the charge of assassination, but found guilty of murders committed as part of an organised group and of association with a terrorist criminal enterprise. The public prosecutor had called for a life sentence of imprisonment, accompanied by a custodial period of twenty-two years.
A jihadist trajectory contested at trial
Garrido joined the Islamic State in Syria as early as 2012, where he remained until 2020. Throughout the hearings, the accused maintained that he had left under duress, presenting himself as a forced jihadist, terrorised by death and seeking recognition. He also cited his upbringing in an ultra-religious family, placed under the authority of a father converted to Islam.
The public prosecutor dismissed these arguments, describing Garrido as a "raging, determined" jihadist, and rejecting all of the accused's denials. The public prosecution had described the accused as "radicalised from birth".
Source: Le Monde - Justice