How will the trial of the November 13 attacks be organized?

Gwladys Laffitte and Marion Dubreuil, edited by Margaux Baralon 07:01, September 05, 2021

It is an extraordinary trial which will open on Wednesday at the specially composed assize court in Paris.

Salah Abdeslam, the only living member of the commando responsible for the attacks of November 13, 2015, and 19 other men suspected of being involved in the preparation of this jihadist attack which left 130 dead and 350 wounded, will be tried for nine months.

An expected hearing, which required two years of preparation.

1,800 civil parties

If this should last a priori at least until May 2022, it is because there are more than 1,800 civil parties formed, of which 300 plan to testify at the bar.

It could take a little over a month alone.

But Jean-Michel Hayat, first president of the Paris Court of Appeal, welcomes today "the dialogue" which has been established "with associations of aid to victims".

"Everyone was, if I may say so, around the table and I have the impression that everyone understood the major stake" represented by the trial, he explains to Europe 1.

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In total, the preparation of the trial took two years and required, in particular, the construction of a special room with 550 seats in the old courthouse in Paris.

In addition, the trial will be broadcast in around fifteen rooms.

A completely new device in France.

"The image of justice up to the challenge"

It will also be the second time that a terrorism trial will be filmed for the archives. And great novelty: it will be retransmitted, via an Internet radio, for the civil parties who cannot be present. "The November 13 trial is a major issue for French justice, after facts that are in everyone's memory. Everyone knows where he was on November 13, 2015, around 9:30 to 9:45 p.m.," said Jean- Michel Hayat. "While we have the impression that justice is entangled in rules of procedure, slowness, inability to deal with things on time, while the challenge is colossal, I hope we can to give the image of a justice up to the stake. "

During these nine months, 20 people will be judged by this court specially composed of five professional magistrates. First, of course, Salah Abdeslam, the only living member of the commando. Then, 13 other men, present at the hearing, suspected of being involved in the preparation of the attacks. Finally, six other defendants will be tried in their absence because they are presumed dead in the Iraqi-Syrian zone, or in flight. Twelve of them face life imprisonment.