French media outlets have examined the police reports of Amedy Coulibaly, one of the suspects in Friday's hostage event at a Jewish supermarket. They discovered that he has spent time in prison for armed robbery — and that he met with French then-President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009.
Coulibaly was first convicted of robbery and went to prison in 2001, The Washington Post reports. In 2005, police suspected he had converted to radical Islam while he was in prison. Also in 2005, Coulibaly met Sharif Kouachi, one of the suspected gunmen in Wednesday's attack on the Charlie Hebdo office, while in prison. He was freed in 2006.
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