Woman falsely claiming to be Paris terror-attack victim receives one-year jail term

A woman who falsely claimed to be a victim of the Paris terror attacks in November 2015 to get compensation has been jailed.

The criminal court at Versailles, outside Paris, found that unemployed Laura Ouandjli, 24, had committed fraud after falsely claiming to have been injured in the attack on the Carillon bar by a jihadist terrorist, reported AFP.

Isis terrorists killed 130 people in a series of coordinated attacks in the French capital on 13 November, 2015, with gunmen and suicide bombers targeting bars, restaurants, the Bataclan concert venue, and the Stade de France football stadium.

A month after the attacks, Ouandjli went to a police station with her arm in a sling claiming to have been injured in the attacks. She presented medical papers purportedly showing she had needed a skin graft, and claimed to have lost her mobile telephone and wallet.

However, police began to question her account when she said she had been injured in an explosion as, during the attack on the Carillon bar, the terrorists only used automatic weapons.

Other inconsistencies subsequently emerged.

The doctor who it was claimed had signed the medical certificate said he had never seen Ouandjli, and it emerged that she had taken a picture of her arm injuries from the internet.

On Sunday, 13, November, French President Francois Hollande and Paris mayor Anna Hidalgo laid flowers at a memorial to the 15 people killed in the attack on the Carillon and nearby Le Petit Cambodge restaurant.

The woman has been sentenced to a year in prison and was ordered to pay a symbolic one euro fine to a fund for genuine victims of terrorism.