Hayat Boumeddiene, the wife of terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, who committed an attack in Paris in January 2015, might be alive after unconfirmed claims of her death, the France 2 broadcaster reported on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2020) Hayat Boumeddiene, the wife of terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, who committed an attack in Paris in January 2015, might be alive after unconfirmed claims of her death, the France 2 broadcaster reported on Friday.
Coulibaly was a member of the jihadist group responsible for the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. Coulibaly killed a municipal police officer in Montrouge on January 8, followed by four other people in a Hyper Cacher store on January 9. He was killed by police during an assault on the store. His attack followed the Charlie Hebdo shooting carried out by the Kouachi brothers, which resulted in 12 fatalities.
According to the media outlet, the counter-terrorism department of the French Prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of Boumeddiene. The woman has an international warrant out for her arrest but has so far managed to evade surveillance by the intelligence services. The last known images of her were taken at the Madrid airport in January 2015.
The woman was believed to have been killed during military confrontations in Syria until the end of 2019, when during police questioning, another terror suspect, Jean-Michel Clain, told investigators that she had met Boumeddiene in October 2019 at a camp for the families of militants in North-Eastern Syria. Boumeddiene had escaped from the camp, she added.
According to France 2, Boumeddiene is suspected of "financing terrorism," as well as "collaborating with terrorists to prepare crimes related to attacks on people." In particular, she is charged with the organization of fraudulent schemes and money laundering.
The trial on the terror attack on the editorial office of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper office and the Hyper Kasher supermarket has been postponed until September 2 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The judges are to consider the cases of 14 suspects, including Boumeddiene, who is now the central figure in the investigation.
Boumeddiene will be judged by default if she remains untraceable by the time the hearing begins.
