Defense lawyers at the trial of the January 2015 attacks, September 21, 2020 in Paris.

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AFP

  • Fourteen people have been tried since September 2 by the special assize court, suspected of having provided assistance to the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly.

  • After the testimonies of the civil parties and the victims of the attacks committed by January 7, 8 and 9, 2015, the Assize Court should begin to address the charges against the accused.

  • But the hearing was abruptly interrupted at 11 am this Thursday morning, after the discomfort of one of the detainees present in the box.

  • Examined at the Fleury-Mérogis remand center, he must undergo a series of tests, the results of which will determine whether the proceedings will be stopped or continued.

At the special assize court in Paris,

Will the trial of the January 2015 attacks be able to come to an end?

The special Paris Assize Court will have to decide tomorrow, after the unexpected suspension of the hearing on Thursday.

The 17th day of the trial ended abruptly at 11 am after the discomfort of one of the accused present in the box, Mickaël Pastor Alwatik.

Fever and suffering from headaches, the 35-year-old man was brought back to Fleury-Mérogis remand center, to be "examined" and undergo a battery of tests - including a Covid test -, specified the President Régis de Jorna before suspending the hearing until Friday morning.

And it is the very holding of the trial that is threatened today, while the government has just placed Paris in a heightened alert zone due to the spread of the coronavirus.

“The question is: will we have the Covid test results tomorrow morning?

If this is not the case, he cannot come back to this box to be tried, ”said Pastor Alwatik's lawyer, Me Marie Dosé, a few minutes before the suspension.

In the morning, the penalist was also surprised that none of the eleven defendants present since September 2 at the hearing had not been tested.

"As soon as we have the results, we will communicate them to you", assured the president.

The video has been cut.

One of the defendants made an uneasy announcement the president.

The hearing is temporarily suspended.

# AttacksJanuary2015

- helenesergent (@helenesergent) September 24, 2020

"Either he is able to appear, or he is not"

After hearing the testimonies of the victims of the attacks of January 7, 8 and 9, 2015, the court was to consider this Thursday the role played by the entourage of the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly.

The hearings of two figures of French jihadism - Peter Chérif and Farid Benyettou - were particularly expected.

They cannot be held tomorrow, said the president, who wishes to keep the schedule initially planned for Friday.

Filmed, the hearing should last more than two months, 49 days in total.

With 144 witnesses cited, ten experts, 90 accredited media and hundreds of lawyers present in the case and at the hearing, this trial required exceptional preparation and appropriate health measures.

Already postponed for the first time in May because of the first wave of the epidemic, the trial finally opened on September 2.

Henceforth, the continuation of the trial is therefore suspended on the medical results of Mickaël Pastor Alwatik.

But already, his lawyer has warned: "Either he is able to appear or he is not.

In this case, the court would have no choice but to suspend the hearings until his recovery.

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