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David Vallat
French jihadist (1971–2024) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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David Vallat (1971 – October 2024) was a French jihadist.[1]
Biography
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Born in Villefontaine in 1971,[2] Vallat grew up in a multicultural neighborhood.[3][4][5] At the age of 15, he learned Arabic and converted to Islam.[6] During this time, he fell into delinquency, committing multiple burglaries and car thefts.[6] He then turned to a more advanced practice of Islam which steered him away from petty crimes.[6] In 1991, he completed his military service with the Chasseurs Alpins in the 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade.[6]
In 1993, Vallat travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina with nine other men to fight for the Bosnian mujahideen in the Bosnian War.[6] However, the group was turned back at the border with Croatia and forced to return to France.[6] The following year, he flew to Pakistan and subsequently crossed into Afghanistan, where he trained for several months in a jihadist camp.[7] He returned to France on 26 December 1994 and formed a jihadist cell in Chasse-sur-Rhône, which provided aid to the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria.[8] He aided the Algerian terrorist Ali Touchent, at the time stuck in the Netherlands, by forging him an identity document.[9] His group was dismantled in the wake of the 1995 France bombings following a police search of his home, which revealed a large collection of weapons and material used for making explosive devices.[8]
On 18 February 1998, Vallat was sentenced to six years in prison for criminal association with a terrorist enterprise, which was reduced to five years on appeal.[6] He spent 52 months in detention in La Santé Prison, the Centre pénitentiaire de Nanterre-Hauts-de-Seine, and the Maison d'arrêt de Villepinte.[10] He was freed on 18 December 1999.[11] He later claimed to be "deradicalized" in prison and took history courses at Bordeaux Montaigne University, though he later abandoned his studies and became a locksmith.[10]
During the 2010s, Vallat broke his silence and began to speak out about his time as a jihadist. He first wrote in the Libération newspaper anonymously following the Toulouse and Montauban shootings.[7] After the 2015 shooting at Charlie Hebdo, he testified under his own name for Le Monde.[10] Later that month, he appeared on the France 2 show Complément d'enquête and looked back at the Assault of Dammartin-en-Goële.[6]
David Vallat was found dead during the weekend of 19 October 2024, at the age of 53.[12]
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- Terreur de jeunesse (2016)
References
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