French court sentences Christmas market attack plotter to 30 years in jail

The 42-year-old was the main defendant among four accused of helping Islamist militant Cherif Chekatt, who shot and stabbed shoppers at the market and was killed by police after a 48-hour manhunt.

Prosecutors said Mondjehi, who is of Ivory Coast origin, helped Chekatt obtain a gun for the attack in a square in front of Strasbourg cathedral on December 11, 2018.

Chekatt killed five people, including a Thai tourist and an Italian journalist, and wounded 11 people before he was wounded and escaped in a taxi.

He was killed in a shootout two days later after hundreds of police and security forces launched a manhunt. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and a video of Chekatt pledging allegiance to the group was found at his home.

Mondjehi was found not guilty of complicity in the “terrorist murders” however as the court said he did not know what the gun was to be used for.

Read more: France 24