14 Accomplices Found Guilty Of Aiding 2015 ‘Charlie Hebdo’ Attacks

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In the wake of the 2015 attack in Paris, «Je Suis Charlie became a rallying cry for demonstrators grieving the victims at the controversial French publication Charlie Hebdo. On Wednesday, a French court found 14 individuals guilty of supporting the massacre.

Hussein Malla/AP

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Hussein Malla/AP

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«We need the truth and justice this trial would bring, Lassana Bathily, who survived the siege in the kosher market, told local media at the start of the trial in September. «We have been waiting five years for it. Without it, we cannot overcome this trauma and rebuild our lives normally.

The 2015 rampage followed Charlie Hebdo’s publication of derogatory caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The satirical magazine had previously received threats over its content and even saw its offices firebombed in 2011 for printing an illustration of the prophet, which many Muslims consider blasphemous.

But those incidents paled in comparison with the terror attack carried out in January 2015, during which 10 of the magazine’s journalists were killed, along with a security guard and a police officer. The Kouachi brothers eluded police immediately after the assault on the Charlie Hebdo offices. Later, as they were on the run, Coulibaly launched his own attack on the kosher grocery.

The attacks drew an outpouring of support for the controversial publication, as «Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie) became a rallying cry for those who saw the magazine staff as martyrs in the defense of free speech.

«Justice was served, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a statement released after Wednesday’s verdict, naming the 17 people who died in the three days of bloodshed. «All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and their associates.