Paris shootings suspect Abdelhakim Dekhar has been charged with attempted murder and kidnapping.
Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested in a car park in Paris on Wednesday after French police launched a large-scale manhunt.
He is suspected of threatening a TV station a week ago, before attacking Liberation newspaper office and Societe Generale HQ on Monday.
Prosecutors have said that samples of DNA from Abdelhakim Dekhar, 48, matched that from the crime scenes.
Abdelhakim Dekhar’s lawyer, Remi Lorrain, has complained of “violations of his right to be presumed innocent”.
Abdelhakim Dekhar has been charged with attempted murder and kidnapping
The spate of attacks started on Friday November 17, when a gunman threatened the Paris TV station, BFMTV.
Then on Monday, a photographer’s assistant was seriously hurt in a shooting at the left-wing newspaper, Liberation, before shots were fired in front of the headquarters of the Societe Generale bank in the Paris business district of La Defense.
Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested on Wednesday in an underground car park in the Paris suburb of Bois-Colombes following a tip-off from a member of the public.
He was found in a semi-conscious state after an apparent suicide attempt.
The French authorities say Abdelhakim Dekhar was jailed in 1998 for his role in a string of fatal shootings in Paris and he was sentenced to four years in jail, but was released soon after the verdict, having already served his time in pre-trial detention.
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French investigators have found two “confused” letters which may explain the motives of suspect gunman Abdelhakim Dekhar behind two recent attacks in Paris.
Prosecutors said in one of the letters Abdelhakim Dekhar had denounced media manipulation and capitalism.
Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested on Wednesday after a major manhunt.
According to the French authorities, he has been jailed before – in 1998, for his role in a string of previous Paris shootings.
After his release he lived in Britain for several years before returning to France in July, the authorities said.
After a two-day manhunt, Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested on Wednesday evening in a stationary car in an underground car park following a tip-off from a member of the public.
One of Abdelhakim Dekhar’s letters was found beside him in the car, with details of his wishes for burial, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference.
Another letter was reportedly given to officials by the man who housed him.
Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested on Wednesday after a major manhunt
This man, according to Francois Molins, had been away from the building until recently, but on his return saw photos of the suspect in the Liberation shooting and recognized Abdelhakim Dekhar, who on confrontation confessed to being the man behind the attack.
Francois Molins said the second letter spoke of a “fascist plot” and accused the media of participating in the “manipulation of the masses”.
Police said that when Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested, it appeared he had taken medication and did not seem very lucid.
Some media sources have suggested he may have attempted suicide.
Abdelhakim Dekhar is believed to have been the third man in the so-called Rey-Maupin affair, named after a young couple with links to anarchist groups who bungled an attempt to steal weapons from guards and then hijacked a taxi in 1994.
In the subsequent chase and shootout, three policemen and the taxi driver were killed, as well as Audry Maupin.
Aufry Maupin’s girlfriend, Florence Rey, was released from jail a few years ago.
Their story was compared to the controversial American film Natural Born Killers.
At his trial in 1998, Abdelhakim Dekhar protested his innocence, claiming he had been recruited by the Algerian secret service to infiltrate the French far-left.
Abdelhakim Dekhar was sentenced to four years in jail but released soon after the verdict, having already served his time in pre-trial detention.
In the wake of the two shooting incidents in Paris, hundreds of police were involved in a huge manhunt and security was stepped up at all media outlets.
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Abdelhakim Dekhar has been identified by the French authorities as the man arrested on suspicion of carrying out recent gun attacks in Paris.
Abdelhakim Dekhar was taken into custody at about 19:00 from a vehicle in a car park in Bois-Colombes, north-west of Paris.
Authorities said the gunman had been jailed in 1998 for his role in a string of fatal shootings in Paris.
Last Friday a gunman threatened a Paris TV station and on Monday attacked Liberation newspaper office and Societe Generale HQ.
Prosecutors said late on Wednesday that samples of Abdelhakim Dekhar’s DNA matched that from the crime scenes.
They said he was not yet in a position to be questioned and the reading of his rights had been postponed.
Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested in a stationary car in an underground car park following a tip-off from a member of the public.
French authorities have named the man arrested on suspicion of carrying out recent gun attacks in Paris as Abdelhakim Dekhar
Police union official Christophe Crepin said: “My colleagues noticed he was not very lucid. They deduced that he had taken medicines, because of the capsules nearby.”
Some media sources have suggested he may have attempted suicide.
Abdelhakim Dekhar is believed to have been the third man in the so-called Rey-Maupin affair, named after a young couple with links to anarchist groups who bungled an attempt to steal weapons from guards and then hijacked a taxi.
In the subsequent chase and shootout, three policemen and the taxi driver were killed, as well as Audry Maupin.
Audry Maupin’s girlfriend, Florence Rey, was released from jail a few years ago.
Their story was compared to the controversial American film, Natural Born Killers.
At his trial in 1998, Abdelhakim Dekhar protested his innocence, claiming he had been recruited by the Algerian secret service to infiltrate the French far-left. He served four years.
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