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Two men linked to man who murdered French police couple face probe

Saad Rajraji and Charaf-Din Aberouz investigated over links to a terrorist group, but not in connection to IS-inspired murder of police couple.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Two men linked to a jihadist who killed a French police officer and his partner were charged* and detained by an anti-terror court Saturday, reports The Guardian.

Saad Rajraji, 27, and Charaf-Din Aberouz, 29, were charged* with having links to a terrorist group, but not in connection to the Isis-inspired murder of the police couple carried out by Larossi Abballa last Monday.

The two men had been convicted along with Abballa in September 2013 as part of a network to send jihadists to Pakistan, judicial sources close to the investigation said.

A third man arrested in the case was released without charge*.

Abballa, a convicted radical who had been under surveillance, murdered the police officer and his partner outside their home and then was killed himself in a police raid.

Read more of this report from The Guardian.

*Editor's note: Under a change to the French legal system introduced in 1993, a magistrate can decide a suspect should be 'placed under investigation' (mise en examen), which is a status one step short of being charged (inculpé), if there is 'serious or concordant' evidence that they committed a crime. Some English-language media describe this status, peculiar to French criminal law, as that of being charged. In fact, it is only at the end of an investigation that a decision can be made to bring charges, in which case the accused is automatically sent for trial.