Trèbes Terrorist Attack, Five Years On: A Trial and a Conversion
26th January 2024
Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame died at the hands of terrorists in the Islamist attacks in Trèbes and Carcassonne in March 2018 after exchanging himself for a hostage. The freed hostage explained that she had found faith through the sacrifice of Lieutenant-Colonel Beltrame.
The trial opened on Monday, January 22nd, in Paris, and is due to last a month. It involves trying those involved in terrorist attacks that took place on 23 March 2018, in the south of France—in Aude, Carcassonne, and in a supermarket in the town of Trèbes, a few kilometres away.
The terrorist, Radouane Ladkim, was a Moroccan, naturalised French in 2004. His hostage-taking was motivated by the demand for the release of Salah Abdeslam, who was involved in the Bataclan attacks in Paris in 2015. Ladkim entered a supermarket and initially took a young cashier, Julie Grand, hostage before freeing her at the request of Lieutenant-Colonel Beltrame, who took her place—against all the usual procedures.
Yet another reminder that Islam is an existential threat to Western civilization.