Jihadist Nemmouche back on trial in France for kidnapping

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00:00Already serving a life sentence for an anti-Semitic terrorist attack, jihadist Mehdi Demouch is

00:06back in court on Monday.

00:09He and four other defendants are accused of holding hostage four French journalists kidnapped

00:14in Syria in 2013 on behalf of the Islamic State militant group.

00:19It took almost a year for them to be freed, after enduring physical and psychological

00:24violence, food deprivation and mock executions.

00:29A month after their release, Demouch coldly killed four people at the Jewish Museum in

00:34Brussels.

00:35At his trial for the museum attack, the journalists named Demouch as one of their captors.

00:42It's important to say that we recognized Mehdi Demouch and have absolutely no doubt about

00:46his identity.

00:47Unfortunately, we spent four and a half months in his hands in not so pleasant conditions.

00:54Through his lawyers, Demouch admitted to having fought in Syria in 2013, but has repeatedly

01:00denied involvement in the hostages' detention.

01:03Nonetheless, the journalists said Demouch's behavior gave him away.

01:10When we told the story of how he used to say, ah, mon petit Didier, to address Didier François,

01:17it made him laugh.

01:18At that moment, he betrayed himself.

01:21His face had been impassive since the start of the trial, but that face spoke for him.

01:29If convicted in the hostage trial, Demouch faces a second life sentence.

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