A chilling testimony to the special court of assizes in Paris.
Called to testify, Monday, September 21, on the course of the hostage-taking of the Hyper Cacher, Christian Deau, former anti-terrorism chief of the Paris criminal brigade, insisted on the "violence" and the "cruelty" of 'Amédy Coulibaly.
"He was cold, determined," without "any empathy for the victims," said Christian Deau, of the 32-year-old jihadist who murdered four people during the January 2015 hostage-taking.
After the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the Montrouge assassination, the Special Assize Court of Paris plunges back from this Monday, September 21 into the horror of the hostage-taking of the Hyper Cacher on January 9, 2015, during of which four men, all Jews, were killed.
"At the time, it was really the height of the difficulties that a hostage-taking intervention service could have encountered", explains the divisional commissioner, sky blue tie and black suit, before detailing. support, the arsenal discovered on the scene of the tragedy.
Trial of the January 2015 attacks: the former Hyper Cacher hostages at the helm
03:18
It is 1:05 p.m., Friday January 9, 2015, when Amédy Coulibaly bursts into the Hyper Cacher supermarket at the Porte de Vincennes, armed with an assault rifle, pistols and explosive sticks, and shoots an employee. , Yohan Cohen.
Inside the store, it's "panic".
Some customers and employees manage to escape by being shot.
Others rush to the basement.
Several people, including employees, find themselves stuck in the middle of the shelves.
Amédy Coulibaly, with a "calm" gesture, rearms his rifle and kills at point blank range a first client, Philippe Braham, after asking him his identity.
Then a second, François-Michel Saada, who had just entered the store.
A cashier, under her threat, closes the metal curtain of the grocery store and then goes down to look for the clients who have taken refuge in the basement.
"The hostages know that if they come back up, they can be executed," recalls Christian Deau, describing a situation of great "stress".
Some of them, including an 11-month-old baby, managed to hide in a cold room.
The others agree to go up, like Yoav Hattab.
This 21-year-old Tunisian tries to seize one of Coulibaly's weapons, left on sacks of flour, but without success.
He was killed in turn, "at 1:21 p.m.", a quarter of an hour after the jihadist burst into the store.
On the ground, the first victim, Yohan Cohen, is slowly dying, under the imperturbable gaze of the jihadist who asks the twenty or so hostages if he must "finish him off".
"There is cruelty in the criminal act", insists the president of the court Régis de Jorna.
Assault as a last resort
Should we intervene?
Trying to parley?
Outside, the police have taken a stand.
"When we arrive, the assault is the last resort: we must first try to negotiate, to achieve the release of the hostages," said Christian Deau.
40 kilometers away, the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo attack, Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, have been holed up since the morning in a printing press in Dammartin-en-Goële (Seine-et-Marne).
A delicate situation to manage for the police officers, who are looking to buy time.
Inside the Parisian grocery store, Amédy Coulibaly tries to "master communication", underlines Christian Deau.
He watches the news channels on his computer continuously and does not hesitate to call one to "correct what is said".
The jihadist - who filmed his attack with a camera attached to his chest - says he wants to "die a martyr" and act "at the request" of the Islamic State organization.
These images, "propaganda" insists the president of the court, will not be diffused at the hearing.
Those of the store's 16 CCTV cameras as well as the photos taken by investigators, on the other hand, are projected, and testify to the violence of the attack.
In these photos, the bodies of some victims are visible, stretched out in alleys strewn with cardboard boxes and products fallen from the shelves.
Overarmed, the terrorist had also threatened on several occasions to use the "20 sticks of dynamite" found at the scene, which "would cause the building to collapse," said the commissioner.
Things finally rushed around 5:10 p.m., shortly after the neutralization of the Kouachi brothers, killed in Dammartin-en-Goële.
The "risk" was that Amédy Coulibaly "takes revenge" on the hostages, recalls the investigator.
The order is then given to the forces of the Raid and the BRI to intervene in the grocery store, through the front door and the back door.
Caught between two fires, Amédy Coulibaly retaliates, before being shot.
"There was never any question of surrender," says Christian Deau.
After the hostage-taking unfolded, the court will hear from survivors on Tuesday and Wednesday, including the former cashier Zarie Sibony and the former storekeeper Lassana Bathily, who had hidden hostages in the cold room.
With AFP
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR