The alleged aggressor of three police officers with hammers on the forecourt of Notre-Dame de Paris, in June 2017, arrives in court on Monday.
This forties of Algerian origin had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before taking action, but he disputes any intention of homicide.
One of the police officers severely beaten on the head testifies exclusively on Europe 1.
EXCLUSIVE
Three and a half years ago, on June 6, 2017, on behalf of the Islamic State group, a man attacked police with a hammer in the middle of Paris, on the forecourt of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The 43-year-old assailant, a former journalist of Algerian nationality, is on trial from Monday until Wednesday for attempted terrorist killings.
He faces life imprisonment.
Among the three police officers targeted, the one the terrorist injured in the head with his hammer agreed to confide exclusively on Europe 1.
"The memory I have is a lot of noise. An individual appears in the middle of the crowd to hit me with a hammer. I did not identify him. I just took a hammer blow in the back of the head. , and I fall. And then I heard a gunshot, screams, and the individual screaming: 'This is for Syria,' "said the victim.
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The accused, with a clean record until then, disputes the intention of homicide, but admits having attacked the police with a hammer and having wanted to give political significance to his gesture.
He had recorded a video of allegiance to the Islamic State group before he took action.
Two kitchen knives were also found on him.
Passed by Sweden between 2001 and 2011, living off odd jobs, he was registered in 2014 as a doctoral student in communication sciences at the University of Metz in France.
"Put a name, an attitude, a character on the one who attacked me"
"I have accumulated four months of arrest", continues to Europe 1 the police officer hit on the head.
"Physically, I got away with a slight head trauma, psychologically it's something else ... I avoided the cinemas, in the restaurants I chose my place to be able to visualize the whole room, the entrances and going out, not having too many people behind your back. We really fall into hypervigilance, "he admits.
The trial will allow him to be confronted with his attacker for the first time since this day of June 6, 2017. "I have only one desire: to be able to look him in the eye and let him tell me what he is doing. was trying to do, what was the purpose of his maneuver, why us? ", explains the policeman.
"It will also allow me to put a name, an attitude, a character on the one who attacked me because, for the moment, it remains completely vague."
He thus hopes, at the end of these three days, to be able to finally "move on to something else".