Trial of November 13: "I try to cut so as not to be caught"

At the office, Célia Cornil Vial listens to the webradio of the November 13th trial muted.

© François-Damien Bourgery / RFI

Text by: François-Damien Bourgery Follow

6 mins

Since September 8, Célia Cornil Vial has been following the trial of the November 13 attacks on a regular basis via the web radio set up to allow the civil parties to follow the hearing.

A new device considered essential, but not without risks.

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For six years, Célia Cornil Vial wondered if the spectator with the pretty earrings who stood near her at the Bataclan was alive. It had almost become an obsession. This Wednesday in October, she finally got her answer. Sitting in the living room of her Parisian apartment, however, she sees nothing of the blonde lady in a dark

who testifies at

, nor of the mapping of the concert hall that her lawyer had shown at the hearing. The web radio site to which it is connected only indicates: "the witness has the floor". But the story she hears echoes her own experience.

At the helm, the blonde lady in a dark suit recounts this Eagles of Death Metal concert which she came to attend from Dijon with her friend, the first detonations she takes for firecrackers, a youthful voice to launch that France did not nothing to do in Syria, the ground it is trying to merge with, the gunfire, then another voice shouting, " 

 And in a sob, her flight, leaving behind her friend killed by a bullet in the head.

A quick research confirms Célia Cornil Vial's intuition: this lady is the one with the pretty earrings.

A new piece completes the puzzle of this night of horror.

"Filling obsessive gaps"

Since September 8, this legal manager in a production company has been thinking about the trial “ 

”. She needs to know what happened to the people next to her and her husband at the Bataclan, to understand how the events unfolded, how the terrorists were able to escape intelligence, fill in " 

 ". " 

 », She explains. So she goes to the audience regularly, always on the same side of the huge light-wood hall: on the left, near the exit, so that she can quickly escape when what is being said becomes unbearable. At the palace, surrounded by her friends from the Life for Paris association and under the protective supervision of

, Célia Cornil Vial feels safe, " 

 ".

But that Wednesday, she is telecommuting, alone with her computer. The testimonies follow one another. The words spill over from the speakers and flow into the living room until they engulf the forty-something. Here she is plunged back into the concert hall. Impossible to get out of it. She can no longer concentrate on her tasks, goes to pick up her daughter from her acting class while continuing to listen to the audience on her phone and only removes one headset when spoken to. That night, she sleeps badly. " 

 " she said to herself the next morning. No question of wasting six years of work with his psychotherapist. “ 

 "

The risk of addiction was raised very early on by the participants in the trial.

" 

 "

the president of Life for Paris Arthur Dénouveaux, about this anxiety characterized by the fear of missing important information (

, in English).

Carole Damiani, director of Paris victim assistance, is also worried.

His association has set up a psychological assistance line, the number of which is listed on the Internet radio site.

It is open Monday to Friday and Saturday morning.

" 

 ", notes the psychologist.

Muted at work

A little more than a third of the civil parties already constituted to date have asked to be able to connect to it, indicates the Ministry of Justice, which lists around 200 daily listeners with peaks between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. (see box). Célia Cornil Vial did it as soon as she could. All he had to do was send his identity document and proof of address by email - Internet radio access is impossible from abroad - to obtain his identifiers. Today, she goes online when she can. But only when she feels attacked, she promises. “ 

 ”.

She listens to it muted at work, on her phone in the subway, in her headphones at home. The detailed schedule of the audience allows him to compensate for the lack of information on the site to know who is speaking. However, because of the few minutes of delay, it often has to be deducted. Some days, it plugs in " 

 ". Others, for several hours. No more than four hours in the day, she specifies, before shuddering, without knowing whether it is our amazement that surprised her or her own amazement at being able to listen to her for so long. It is justified: " 

 ".

The multitude of stories makes her realize that she is not alone in having experienced certain sensations. “ 

 She also learns about friends she has known for six years. She speaks of a " 

 ".

But when she wants to follow a specific person, Célia Cornil Vial calls on her lawyer who sends her a text message to warn her.

On October 21, when the Bataclan hostages testified, she was able to listen to her friend David and send him messages of support.

The Facebook group dedicated to Internet radio that Life for Paris has created is also of great help.

Its members exchange information, announce an interesting testimony or a delicate moment, as when altercations broke out between the court and the defendants.

" 

 ", summarizes Célia.

In order not to miss them, she added the site to her favorites.

Internet radio in figures

• 877 civil parties out of the 2,411 already formed to date have requested access to the web radio

• On average 600 daily connections of around 200 civil parties

• Peaks of simultaneous connections of the order of 120 to 150 participants between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

• An average listening time of two hours

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