Trial of the November 13 attacks: former President Hollande at the helm
Former French President François Hollande, November 10, 2021, during the November 13 attacks.
AFP - BENOIT PEYRUCQ
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
At the trial of the November 13 attacks, the court heard from François Hollande on Wednesday November 10.
The former president came to explain his role that evening, but especially his actions before and after the attacks.
At the start of the trial, the accused Salah Abdeslam, the only member of the commandos still alive, resumed the demands put forward by the attackers of the Bataclan, justifying the attacks as a "
revenge
" after the French intervention in Iraq and Syria.
For four hours, the former head of state defended his decisions taken on behalf of France in matters of foreign policy.
Advertising
Read more
With our special correspondent,
Laura Martel
"
When there is an attack, it is necessarily a failure
", recognizes François Hollande. But at the bar, the former president shows little regret. The Bataclan commando had personally incriminated and justified the attacks as reprisals after the French strikes in Syria. Does he therefore bear a share of responsibility? “
I would do the exact same thing today,
” he replies.
And recall the calls of the Islamic State group to target France in 2014, and the attacks carried out in 2015. “
We were waged at war, we responded,
” he points out, stressing that the commandos had already been sent. before the bombings in Syria in September 2015. "
We were not hit for our actions abroad, but for our ways of life,
" he said.
Were there any hiccups in the threat assessment? In November 2015, "
we were under threat every day, we knew it, but we did not know where, when and how they were going to strike
", defends Mr. Holland. As for the root causes which led the French to kill others, he barely recognizes that "
could have done better to support certain individuals
".
But is it for all that "
the fault of the educational system, of the Republic
", or rather of an "
effective propaganda
" which "
captured
" individuals "
faltering
"? Asks the former head of state socialist, in reference to the communication of the IS. "
I do not want to enter into this logic where it would be up to us to explain what happened and report on it
", concludes François Hollande.
Today, underlines the ex-president, the Islamic State “
has not completely disappeared, but it is incapable of carrying out an operation like November 13
”.
“
And from that point of view,” he
adds, “
a battle has been won, even though the war is not over.
"
► Trial of November 13, 2015: All our articles on the RFI website
The former head of state had been cited as a witness by an association of victims, Life for Paris, which had provoked a controversy, some on the side of the defense and others of the prosecution deeming his coming unnecessary.
But the president of the association, Arthur Dénouveaux, believes he learned things during these four hours of hearing.
This is what he explained to RFI's microphone.
We were able to glean a few things that we didn't come looking for.
For example, I think that nobody knew that he had decided to come to the Stade de France at the last minute, and that therefore the Stade de France was not an attack against him
02 TRIAL 13N _His Hearing F. Hollande - reaction.
A. New
Laura Martel
In a democracy, to punish those responsible or the accomplices of a monstrous attack, the answer is that of the Law and not of revenge.
This is why democracy will always be stronger than barbarism.
She always wins at the end.
pic.twitter.com/5GcTzyyqCc
- François Hollande (@fhollande) November 10, 2021
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Justice
France
Francois Hollande
Trial of the November 13 attacks
Paris attacks