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‘Carlos the Jackal’ fined for terrorism comment

A Paris court fined the terrorist known as “Carlos the Jackal” more than $6,000 Tuesday for saying in a French television interview that terror attacks sometimes were “necessary.”
/ Source: The Associated Press

A Paris court fined the terrorist known as “Carlos the Jackal” more than $6,000 Tuesday for saying in a French television interview that terror attacks sometimes were “necessary.”

The 56-year-old Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was convicted of defending terrorism.

In a 2004 report on M6 television, Ramirez said: “We are authorized to take life if necessary.” The judges ruled that he presented terrorist acts as “legal and even necessary.”

The court did not convict him for expressing pleasure that “the Great Satan” — the United States — suffered the Sept. 11 attacks, saying those comments were his personal reaction.

Prosecutors asked for a fine four times larger than the $6,110 penalty imposed. But the judges said they did not see the need for a higher fine because Ramirez’s comments referred to the past and aimed to justify his own actions.

Ramirez, dressed in a red shirt and blue blazer, kissed the hand of his partner and lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, during the judgment.

He is serving a life sentence for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer. He gained international notoriety as the Cold War-era mastermind of deadly bombings, assassinations and hostage dramas.

He was captured in Sudan in 1994 and hauled in a sack to Paris by French secret service agents. He remains under investigation for a series of attacks in France.