French helicopter jailbreaker sentenced to 14 more years in prison

Rédouine Faïd, a convicted bank robber who escaped a French jail in a hijacked helicopter in 2018, has been sentenced to a further 14 years in prison

A sketch of Redoine Faid at the opening of the trial over his escape from prison in 2018, 5 September 2023. © Benoit Peyrucq/AFP

The judge handed down the conviction just after midnight on Thursday, concluding the seven-week trial. The 14-year sentence was lighter than the 22 years requested by prosecutors.

Faïd, who had been serving a 25-year prison sentence for a 2010 bank robbery in which a police officer was killed, was due to be released in 2046. He now could be in prison until 2060.

He and 11 accomplices were on trial for his dramatic escape from the Reau prison, 50 kilometres southeast of Paris, in 2018, which involved a helicopter and explosives.

He spent three months on the run before he was arrested and put back behind bars in the Vendin-le-Vieil prison, one of France's most secure.

Faïd, who said in court his need for freedom was “an addiction that I recognise and that consumes me, and that I cannot cure", had previously escaped from prison in 2013.

His escape raised questions about security at French prisons.

Faïdsaid the escape plan depended on the absence of anti-helicopter nets at the prison, which he called an “irrational flaw”.

His brother, Rachid, who had taken the helicopter pilot hostage and forced him to land in front of the prison, was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Another brother, Brahim, who was inside the visiting rooms at the time, swore during the trial that he had not known of the plan. Prosecutors believed him and called for his acquittal, but the court did not, and he received a one year suspended prison sentence.

Three of Faïd's nephews who helped him during his escape and when he was on the run were sentenced to two, six and eight years in prison.

(with AFP)