Eight people sent back to the assizes after the attack of July 14 in Nice

Investigators examine the truck that was used in the Nice attack on July 14, 2016 -

A trial is in sight after the attack on the Promenade des Anglais which left 86 dead on July 14, 2016 in Nice.

The investigating judges responsible for the investigation decided to return seven men and a woman, including three for "criminal terrorist association", before the special assize court, announced the national anti-terrorism prosecution on Tuesday.

The three main defendants Mohamed Ghraieb, Chokri Chafroud and Ramzi Arefa are suspected of having been "aware of the existence of a project" of attack on the part of Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian who was shot dead the same evening by the police.

Two accused on the run

They were also indicted for "complicity in assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise", but the judges abandoned this qualification, considering that the three men, two Tunisians and this Franco-Tunisian did not have "precise knowledge of the terrorist project ”, nor of the planned“ moment of its realization ”.

Five other people, a Tunisian and four Albanians, are also returned to the assizes, but for offenses related to the supply of a weapon.

The judges note that “no element [does] demonstrate their knowledge, even imprecise, of the terrorist project”.

Four defendants are in detention, two are under judicial supervision while two others are on the run and are subject to arrest warrants.

All can still appeal against their referral to the Assizes, a trial that will not be held before 2022. In total, 865 people or associations have become civil parties in this investigation.

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• Assize court

• Attack

• Justice

• Nice

• Trial

• Terrorism