• The trial of the November 13 attacks opened on September 8 before the specially composed Assize Court.

    Twenty men appear, six of whom are being tried in their absence.

  • With the exception of Salah Abdeslam, the members of the attack commandos are all dead.

    The court nonetheless looks at their journey by hearing their relatives.

  • This Friday, it was the parents of Samy Amimour, one of the three Bataclan terrorists who testified at the bar of the specially composed assize court.

At the assizes specially composed in Paris

On November 15, 2015, like every Sunday, Azedyne Amimour hit the road and left Liège, Belgium, where he worked, to join the family home, in the Paris region. What was not his surprise when, the next day, the police officers came knocking on the door to take them, his wife, and their youngest daughter, to the premises of the DGSI. At the time, this is misunderstanding dominates. Of course, he has learned that three days earlier, a wave of attacks brought mourning to the capital. But never, he assures before the specially composed Assize Court, he never imagined that his son, Samy, could be one of the three suicide bombers of the Bataclan. "I learned that while in police custody", specifies this 74-year-old man, crown of white hair and small mustache that appears when his mask slips off.

At the helm, this retired trader recounts the express radicalization of a child whom he himself describes as "easily influenced". “Flawless” school career, first baccalaureate then registration for a law degree, which he abandoned to become a bus driver at RATP. It was during this period, in 2012, that the family noticed Samy Amimour's religious withdrawal, even though they were not practicing. He begins to frequent the mosque assiduously, changes the way he dresses, reproaches his parents for having CDs or a bottle of champagne at home. Worried, Azedyne Amimour even decides to accompany him to the mosque on several occasions to realize for himself the content of the sermon ... But does not notice anything abnormal. “It happened at breakneck speed,” he insists.

“That day he came to kiss me.

I ticked "

In September 2013, the young man pretended to vacation in the south of France with friends to rally Syria.

“That day he came to kiss me.

I twitched, it was weird, ”recalls the old man, who will end his testimony sitting on a chair.

From France, he tries at all costs, with his wife, to maintain contact.

Even if it means not asking the annoying questions, to encourage him when he tells him that he is learning Arabic.

In the summer of 2014, he in turn took the road to Syria "to go and get it back".

"I tell myself that when he sees me, he might change his mind," he insists.

On the spot, it is disillusionment.

“When I saw him, I didn't really recognize him, he had military clothes, crutches,” recalls Azedyne Amimour, specifying that he was wearing a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder.

Above all, her son is almost silent.

“When I tried to talk to him, he didn't respond.

He has no reaction when he gives her a "very beautiful, very moving letter" from his mother, refuses to tell her how he got injured, no longer wants to talk about football when it was their passion.

"He was completely lobotomized, it was difficult to get into his head," he analyzes.

At the end of four days, very weakened by food poisoning, he finally decides to leave with the idea of ​​coming back, later, "in force".

A questionable trip

Did he really do change your mind, get him back to France? Why did he leave after four days? Why did he not try to lecture him? During more than three hours, the witness crumbled under a barrage of questions, sometimes accusatory. Especially as his version of this trip is questionable. First, because there are significant inconsistencies in the dates. Especially, because he denied before the RPS having spent the Syrian border. He says this falsehood - he calls "refusal to communicate" - by the brutality of the announcement of the death of his son by the magistrate, which led him to close. Interviewed shortly by the specially composed Assize Court, his youngest daughter has confirmed the trip,claiming to have received an email from his brother to tell him that he was with their father.

Through his testimony, we especially feel the almost irrational hope of a father convinced that he will manage to get his son out of the cycle of radicalization.

And the guilt of a man who didn't.

"Did I fail somewhere?"

I have often asked myself this question, I don't know, ”he admits.

Justice

Trial of the attacks of November 13: "My brother did not tell me what he had in mind", assures the youngest of Abdelhamid Abaaoud

Justice

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  • Terrorist attacks in Paris

  • Samy Amimour

  • Bataclan

  • Trial

  • Terrorism

  • Attacks of November 13

  • Justice

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