Infamous French criminal Rédoine Faïd, who escaped prison in 2018 aboard a hijacked helicopter in a jailbreak that astonished France, went on trial in Paris on Tuesday, reports FRANCE 24.
Faïd, dubbed the “getaway king”, faces life in prison on charges of escaping jail in an organised gang and hijacking an aircraft.
The high-security trial began Tuesday morning at Paris’s historic Palais de Justice and will continue until October 20, with the 51-year-old accused of hijacking an aircraft and two jailbreaks.
Eleven suspected accomplices, including members of his family, are on trial alongside Faïd, charged with helping him in the escape and during the subsequent three months it took police to catch him.
Access to the courtroom was under special protection on Tuesday and mobile phone signals scrambled, officials said.
Faïd has a history of robberies, involving armoured vehicles and hostages, and a record of audacious jailbreaks.
In July 2018, Faïd broke out of Réau Prison south of Paris with the help of three accomplices who used smoke bombs and angle grinders to make their way into the facility's visiting room – after first disembarking from a hijacked helicopter that landed in the prison’s courtyard.
The entire operation took just ten minutes: while one accomplice stayed in the helicopter holding a gun to the pilots head, two others threw smoke bombs as they broke into the prison where Faïd was being held.
Witnesses reported seeing the “very serene” prisoner walk “calmly” to the aircraft before it took off.
Police later found the helicopter north of Paris, and arrested Faïd three months later in Creil, his hometown.
The prison escape was Faïd’s second in five years.
In April 2013, he used explosives to blow open gates and took four wardens hostage to escape from Sequedin Prison in northern France.