Trial of the January 2015 attacks: "It will not bring my brother back", testifies the sister of a victim

TESTIMONY

On January 9, 2015, two days after the attack on the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo, François-Michel Saada was the victim, along with three other people, of the terrorist attack at the Hyper Cacher, a supermarket located near the Porte de Vincennes, in Paris. 

Annie-Laure Saada, François-Michel's sister, will be present for this trial.

She gave a very strong testimony to Europe 1, on the eve of this long awaited moment by the families of the victims.

Have you been waiting for this trial for five years?

"I can't say I've been waiting for five years because I knew it was coming. I was expecting it, and at the same time, I was dreading it. It's a moment that may be quite painful, quite difficult to live with, especially since the main protagonists are no longer there to answer for their acts.It is a trial that will perhaps not have the same value as if we had all the culprits in the box.

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In the box, there will only be the accomplices of the terrorists or those who brought them assistance.

Can this trial bring answers to the families of the victims?

Honestly, I'm not expecting anything.

I prefer not to expect anything and I don't even know what to expect.

We will see at the time.

I think that more than a trial of the attacks of January 2015, it will be more a trial of terrorism in general.

In any case, that's how I live it and how I feel it.

But I don't know if this is how it will play out.

Do you want or need to evoke the memory of your brother François-Michel Saada?

Certainly yes.

But what is going to unfold is so contradictory to what my brother represented, that it seems almost incongruous to me.

My brother was someone who loved life, who respected others.

There, we are suing people who respect nothing and who do not value life.

So, I find it hard to relate these two things.

You will be in the courtroom and go face the accused.

Are you going to speak?

I don't know if I'll be able to, if I won't be overwhelmed by emotion.

And then, I don't know if, depending on the days and weeks that I will live, I would want to do it.

I don't know in advance.

But I already know that I won't attend everything because there are things I don't want to hear.

However, there are things I want to know.

" I do not see what this trial will bring me " 

Is the main thing that this trial finally takes place?

It is important that justice be done and that this trial takes place.

But personally, I don't see what this trial will bring me.

But he has to hold on.

The accused, if found guilty, must be punished on the basis of their actions and their guilt.

Other than that, whatever the verdict, it won't bring me back my brother.

Five after the attacks of January 2015, are you afraid that the collective memory will be erased today?

It's important to remember it, not to get used to it, not to trivialize it, not to accept.

Your brother's name and the names of the other three Hyper Cacher victims are on a commemorative plaque next to the supermarket.

What does this mean to you?

This is a good thing.

François-Michel has a commemorative plaque in Fontenay-sous-Bois, the city where he lived for a very long time.

There is a second plaque bearing his name, next to the Porte de Vincennes.

This is important because I think that today, if you interview random people on the street, there will be quite a few who can tell you what the names of the four victims of Hyper Cacher were.

While everyone will have remembered the names of the assassins.

On January 9, 2015, you did not immediately learn that your brother was among the victims.

I only knew around 8:30 p.m., but I had a very bad feeling early in the afternoon.

As soon as I found out what had happened in that grocery store, it was like I already knew it.

Because I texted him I tried to reach him on the phone and of course he was not answering.

It was like he was next to me and telling me "but I can't answer you, I'm dead".

It was an endless wait.

" The Jews are still not immune.

The danger and the hatred are still there "

Your brother rarely went shopping in this Hyper Cacher.

Do you have the impression that he died at random?

He died because he was a Jew.

Obviously he (Amédy Coulibaly,

) was trying to kill Jews.

He went to the place where he could sure hope to find as many as possible.

Terrorists have targeted satirical journalists and Jews.

Each in its register crystallized the hatred of the attackers.

Is it still incomprehensible to you?

This is not only something which is always incomprehensible and unacceptable, but it is also something which is unfortunately still true: cartoonists, satirical journalists are still not immune and Jews are still not safe. 'shelter.

The danger and the hatred are still there.

Especially since there are people who finish serving sentences related to acts of terrorism who will be released from prison in the coming months.

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Despite all these feelings, you will be present at the opening of the trial.

Yes, I will be there the first day.

I confess that I was scared to death. "