Nice 2016 attacker 'cannot be divorced from ISIS'

Six years after attack that killed 86 people in southern France, there is a chance to bring accomplices to justice

First responders are seen at the site of the 2016 attack in Nice, France, in which 86 people were killed. AFP

French officers investigating the 2016 Nice attack told a court that the ISIS terrorist group bore responsibility for the "lone wolf" rampage, having drawn in Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel through propaganda in the weeks before the July 14 killing spree.

The Tunisian used a hired 19-tonne lorry to mow down men, women and children on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, killing 86 people. He was shot and killed by police after a four-minute killing spree.

"Sometimes ISIS is content to make recommendations on operating methods or targets available to all," one of the agents that investigated the attack told a court hearing.

"The Nice attack is part of a period when France had been continually threatened by the propaganda of ISIS."

The court was told on Wednesday of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's fascination with violence and how he had a long history of domestic abuse before he began looking at the ISIS propaganda. His interest deepened in the lead-up to the killings during Bastille Day celebrations.

The judge presiding questioned the analysis.

"Was he able to carry out his attack to satisfy his personal need for violence, devoid of Islamist ideology?" he asked.

”ISIS propaganda may have played a role," the investigator said. "Lahouaiej-Bouhlel took action alone. In this sense, it is an individual act. But it cannot be uncorrelated from a context.

"He passed to carrying out the act and followed the recommendations relayed by the propaganda of ISIS.”

"I take it that you classify the Nice attack in the category of attacks inspired by ISIS," the judge added.

Investigators found no trace of a direct interaction between ISIS and Lahouaiej-Bouhlel.

Eight people accused of helping him went on trial in Paris this week. They have denied any links to terrorism and told the court that they had been trapped or fooled by Lahouaiej-Bouhlel.

In opening evidence on Tuesday, the accused sought to distance themselves from the attacker and any extremist ideas.

“I saw nothing coming and I found myself caught in the gears,” said Mohamed Ghraieb, charged with association with a terrorist criminal. “It was a scumbag who did this. Terrorism frightens me."

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, was perceived by his family as a violent person, but not religious. He ate pork and drank alcohol.

Mr Ghraieb and the other accused said they did not notice his radicalisation, which investigators conceded had developed in the space of only a few weeks before the attack.

“On the day of July 14, I was with the injured and I did it with all my heart. When the name of the terrorist came out, I was the one who went to the police” to offer evidence about the attacker, Mr Ghraieb told the court.

“I have told the truth from the start."

He said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel “tricked" him. Investigators say Mr Ghraieb was close to the attacker and had ridden in the lorry used for the attack earlier that week.

Chokri Chafroud, also accused of having close ties to the attacker, struggled for words to describe the horrors of that night.

“I don’t know what was on his mind. But I didn’t help him at all."

Ramai Arefa told he court he was 21 years old and living “on drug trafficking” at the time of the attack.

“I admit having been the intermediary for the sale of a pistol, but I did not know this person outside of drug trafficking. I did not partner with him on any project," he told the court.

The other accused were charged with lesser, non-terrorism-related crimes such as the sale or transport of weapons.

Two spoke via Albanian translators, saying they were sorry for the victims but knew nothing about Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s intentions.

They said they had only been in France for a few months and were working under the table in construction, and both said they had nothing to do with terrorism.

Seven of the eight accused were in court. The eighth, in detention in Tunisia, is being tried in absentia. If convicted, they face sentences ranging from five years to life in prison.

The trial is scheduled to last three and a half months, with a verdict expected in December.