Attacks of November 13: the multiple challenges of an extraordinary trial
The interior of the courtroom built especially for the trial of the November 13 attacks, in the Palais de Justice in Paris, September 2, 2021. © Thomas Coex, AFP
Text by: François-Damien Bourgery Follow |
Laura Martel
13 mins
Almost six years after the triple attack that struck Paris and Saint-Denis, leaving 130 dead and more than 400 wounded, the November 13 trial opens this Wednesday, September 8 in Paris.
It should last almost nine months.
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It is the trial of all superlatives.
An extraordinary trial;
the "
trial of the century
", some even say.
The figures alone make it possible to measure the magnitude: 20 defendants, more than 330 lawyers and 1,800 civil parties already constituted, nearly five years of investigation for a file of 542 volumes, and nearly nine months of investigation. 'hearing.
Not to mention the symbolic significance of the event.
Because
November 13
, paroxysm of the wave of attacks that hit France between 2015 and 2020, is the deadliest attack ever committed on the national territory since the Second World War.
"
This affair had a very important impact on public opinion and for French society in general
"
,
recalls Julien Heuty, deputy secretary of the general prosecutor's office in Paris, responsible for organizing the trial.
For such an event, a setting that was both majestic and solemn was needed.
The choice of the Ile de la Cité courthouse was quickly imposed.
Problem: no room was large enough to accommodate the hundreds of civil parties and journalists expected.
It was therefore necessary to build a new one from
scratch
.
It is there, in this ultramodern parallelepiped of 45 meters by 15 placed between the columns of the immense room of the lost steps, that the court of assizes specially constituted chaired by Jean-Louis Périès will try to shed all the light on this night. horror where three almost simultaneous attacks in Saint-Denis and Paris left 130 dead and more than 400 injured.
Eleven accused in the box
Of the ten alleged members of the commandos of the Stade de France, the terraces and the Bataclan, only the Belgian Salah Abdeslam will be present in the box of the accused. The others all died, killed by their explosive vests or police bullets that evening, or five days later in a Raid assault in Saint-Denis. Detained for five years at Fleury-Mérogis prison, Salah Abdeslam who is being prosecuted in particular for "murders in an organized group and in connection with a terrorist enterprise" and "criminal terrorist association" will be defended by a young lawyer, Me Olivia Ronen . At his side will be ten men, suspected of having worked as logisticians, conveyors or intermediaries. Three others appear free. To these are finally added six defendants tried by default,detained in connection with another case or presumed dead in Syria.
►
See also: Infographic - Who are the alleged perpetrators and accomplices of the November 13 attacks
In front of the box, their lawyers.
Opposite, those of the civil parties.
Basically, the five magistrates of the special assize court and their assessors.
And then the room with 550 seats, gigantic but too small to accommodate the hundreds of civil parties and journalists expected.
The organizers of this historic trial have therefore planned to open thirteen additional screening rooms.
The hearing will be fully filmed and recorded for the National Archives, but no images will be released.
Civil parties absent will however be able to follow the proceedings via an Internet radio.
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Because not all survivors and relatives of victims will come to the hearing. Some for material reasons, even if the courts offer assistance with travel and accommodation costs. "
It's difficult to put your life on hold to come and attend this trial, especially given its duration and with the health constraints, in particular for foreigners
", points out master Hélèna Christidis who represents 18 French, German and German civil parties. Turkish.
Beyond these practical aspects, the ways of approaching this event are diverse.
“
Some tell me that they will cut themselves off from all information, especially for fear of rekindling their wounds.
There are those who prefer to follow from afar, those who will come every day.
Some want to face the accused, others fear this confrontation and will opt for the broadcast rooms
, ”continues Me Christidis.
The necessarily massive presence of the media is also variably perceived.
For the civil parties who fear to experience it as additional violence, the organizers of the trial have provided badges with red lanyards, a sign that they do not want to be questioned.
Those who, on the contrary, wish to be heard will wear a green thong.
The difficulty of testifying
There is also the question of testimony in court. Within the Spanish family that she represents, "
one of the parents expresses a pressing need to evoke his son, killed at the Bataclan, while speaking up seems unthinkable for the other
", underlines Me Clémence Witt. Former manager of Comptoir Voltaire, Patricia Medeiros, for her part, was "
sure she wanted to be there
" for a long time. As the trial approached, she changed her mind. “
It's not worth switching back for monsters,
” she breathes. Patricia Correia, she will speak for the memory of her daughter Precilia, killed at the Bataclan. “
It needs to come out,
” she says.
This trial will not make me feel better, but it is important that it takes place, that it be part of our history. For our country, the whole world, so that we don't forget.
"
Injured at the Bataclan, Elsa also intends to attend some audiences.
“
I need to be involved,
” she explains.
I don't want to let this go and regret it later.
I will do it for me, because it is the symbol of a step.
And then this trial has a historical significance and this story, I am part of it, whether I like it or not
”.
Gregory Reibenberg, the boss of the Belle Équipe, claims, for his part, to have been a civil party not for himself but for his daughter, his twenty employees and "
the whole life
".
He will testify "
so that we remember more the names of the victims than of the executioners
".
►
Also to listen: Attacks of November 13th: is it possible to rebuild?
Testifying in court is often a difficult ordeal, admits the Secretary General of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat), Nicolas Renucci, but these are important moments both for those who speak out and who can thus be heard , as well as for the court and the observers. "
These moments embody what happened beyond what appears in the minutes
", develops the magistrate.
The hearings must also allow, according to him, to return in detail on this evening of November 13 and the months which preceded in order to understand how these attacks were perpetrated. If this trial is not that of Belgian intelligence or the French State, several civil parties are indeed awaiting answers on possible shortcomings, upstream, in the follow-up of certain people involved in these attacks; or downstream, on what Patricia Correia describes as “
dysfunctions
” in the way the authorities reacted. "
Why were the soldiers in front of the Bataclan not allowed to intervene?"
“, She wants to know in particular. So to the prosecution of "
restore this sprawling investigation so that the civil parties, the media and society as a whole come out of this trial with the best possible understanding of what happened,
”adds Nicolas Renucci.
Give each accused his rightful place
We must not forget, however, that "
the trial must remain above all that of the accused
", he insists. And this despite the imbalance, if only numerical, between civil parties and defense. “
The accused must see the charges against them exposed, debated and rigorously assessed by the court, and have the opportunity to explain.
»Will they choose to do so? The question is on everyone's mind. Many civil parties would particularly like to hear from Salah Abdeslam. But they fear that he and the other defendants will remain walled in silence. "
Since the object of this trial is to try to access a form of manifestation of the truth, to play a cathartic role and allow the victims to move forward, the silence of the defendants would be extremely difficult for them to accept
”, points out Mr. Witt. "
But the role of the lawyer, beyond fighting for this manifestation of the truth, is to warn them that a trial cannot be everything, and that it must be done with the strictest respect for rights. defense, starting with that of remaining silent.
"
“
Everyone must bear their responsibility, no more and no less. Let there be no scapegoat. Nor amalgamation between the accused. May justice give everyone their rightful place,
”insists Me Ilyacine Maallaoui, who defends the Tunisian Sofien Ayari, prosecuted in particular for complicity in terrorist killings. Especially since the extent of media coverage and the interest that the trial is sure to arouse on social networks can be conducive to attacks on the presumption of innocence. "
We are always afraid in this kind of trial, that emotion overwhelms everything, that the accused will be reduced to the atrocious facts which are judged and that even those who are not directly involved in the facts will be contaminated by the terrorist coloring.
», Deplores Me Negar Haeri, adviser to Mohamed Amri alongside Xavier Nogueras.
Because the profiles of the accused are diverse, and therefore the charges more or less heavy.
Three of them, moreover, appear free.
"
When we appear free in such a case, it is because there are not major elements to charge
", exclaims Me Maallaoui.
“
People think that there will be in the box 11 terrorists who participated in the killing of November 13, it is not true
!
You have several people who have frequented, to varying degrees and over different periods, people who have been in contact with the perpetrators of the attacks,
”adds Me Nogueras.
His client, Mohamed Amri, whose absence of radicalization is recognized by the prosecution, appears detained for terrorist criminal association (AMT). An offense whose outline is an important issue for several defendants, according to the lawyer, as was the case during the trial of the January 2015 attacks. The court had also decided to abandon the terrorist qualification for six defendants. “
Terrorist intent is now defined by the fact of coming to the aid of a person whom you know to be radicalized. And if three months later, she commits a terrorist act, you fall under the umbrella of terrorist conspiracy. This offense no longer requires that the individual tried to know what was going to happen, it's amazing!
», Fulminates Me Nogueras, who intends to fight against this definition which he considers unsatisfactory from a legal point of view.
His client is also determined to defend his innocence.
“
He wants to explain himself
”.
The bench should therefore not be uniformly mute.
A "normal trial"
Often gathered in recent months to organize this judicial marathon, the parties say they are striving for the same objective: that this trial takes place first in "
respect
", "
dignity
" and "
serenity
". "
Justice is there to speak the law and certainly not to write history
[...]
A trial is needed that ensures a balance between the expectations of the victims, the rights of the accused and the interests of society in order to arrive at a form of manifestation of truth, judicial truth
», Summarizes Me Clémence Witt. The stakes are high, especially in the process of rebuilding the victims and their relatives. Because if this trial does not do justice, they risk feeling "
re-victimized
", warns the lawyer, that to the suffering linked to the facts is added the feeling of having been abandoned by the judicial institution.
This trial must be "
the democratic response to barbaric acts
", agrees the prosecution.
For Nicolas Renucci, “
the attacks of November 13 were an attack that targeted our freedoms, our democratic way of life.
The response of the rule of law must be that of an independent, impartial justice based on its rules of law.
In this regard, this trial will be no different from the others.
For each of the parties, the central issue, paradoxically, is therefore that this “extraordinary trial” takes place above all like “a normal trial”.
An extraordinary trial in figures.
© FMM Graphic Studio
Nine months of trial
The first days will be devoted to the constitution of the civil parties whose hearings should then take place from the end of September to the end of October. Three weeks dedicated to the personality of the accused will follow, during which several relatives of the deceased terrorists will testify. Renowned witnesses are also expected to take the stand, starting with former President François Hollande. “
He is the only one to have had a global view of the attacks of November 13,
explained to France Inter Arthur Dénouveaux, president of the association of victims Life for Paris.
His testimony will shed light on the state's posture in the face of these attacks.
"
The facts (preparations, execution) and the events which followed will be examined during the first three months of 2022. The accused will be heard again, as well as the people who participated in the investigation.
Discussions are expected to end at the end of March.
The time will come for pleadings and requisitions.
Civil party lawyers will be the first to plead.
The requisitions of the Advocates General will follow, then the defense pleadings.
The court will then meet to deliberate.
Verdict expected on May 25.
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