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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.