The trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 opened in Paris more than six months ago now and is due to end in June.
This Friday, the special assize court heard the testimony of Sonia, a resident of Seine-Saint-Denis who allowed anti-terrorism investigators to locate the coordinator of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, and to intervene on November 18, 2015.
Thanks to the testimony of this young woman, the authorities were able to put an end to the deadly projects of the terrorists of the November 13 cell.
At the special Assize Court of Paris,
Despite the robotic deformation of his voice, the emotion shines through easily: “I thought of the victims and the families of the victims.
I weighed the pros and cons, and I decided that I would rather give my life than support the murder of other people.
Seven years after the attacks of November 13, 2015, Sonia* regrets “nothing” about her sacrifice.
“Providential witness” for the investigators of the Anti-Terrorist Sub-Directorate (SDAT), this 48-year-old mother is the one who put an end to the deadly projects of the Franco-Belgian terrorist cell.
Protected by a special status, modified in 2016 by decree, Sonia put her life on hold and had to give up her identity.
An upheaval that she was far from measuring when she contacted the toll-free number on November 16, 2015, set up by the authorities after the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis.
Interviewed anonymously and remotely this Friday by the special assize court, this former volunteer at Restos du Coeur told the surreal story of her meeting with the most wanted jihadist in Europe at the time: Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
“Abdelhamid, you are alive!
»
Like many French people on the evening of November 13, 2015, Sonia watches the football match between the Blues and the Germans.
Hasna, a young woman whom she met several years ago during one of her marauding trips and who had broken with her family, was then living at home.
When a “news flash” evokes the first attacks, the reaction of her protegee shocks Sonia: “She went in front of the television saying that it was unbelievers, that it was normal”.
The next day, everything accelerates.
Hasna receives a phone call from a number from abroad.
"She was overexcited," recalls the witness.
The man on the phone explains to Hasna that her cousin has “problems” and that she must “get him back”.
Asked by Sonia about him, the young woman explains to him that it is "his 17-year-old cousin" and that he "is on the street".
Hasna turns to Sonia and her companion and asks them if they can accompany her to pick him up.
“I was taken by feelings”, justifies the witness, who agrees to bring her by car.
The meeting point, set around Aubervilliers, is unclear.
The directions given to Hasna over the phone change, and the trio eventually land near a vegetated area along a road.
"I saw a man come out of a bush, and Hasna said when he saw him: 'Abdelhamid, you are alive!'
".
A conversation then begins that will change the course of the investigation for the authorities, convinced that other attacks are in preparation.
“I thought of my family, my friends”
“He approached, shook my hand.
Even today, I regret it.
He declined his identity, said that he had participated in the attacks but that he had not finished the work, ”says Sonia.
"The terraces are me," says Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the coordinator of the terrorist cell.
"I was frozen, disgusted," adds the witness.
At bay since their flight on the evening of November 13, Abaaoud and one of his accomplices, who both took part in the shootings on the terraces of the 10th and 11th arrondissements of Paris, are desperately looking for a base.
Hasna, Abaaoud's cousin, agrees to help them.
Without showing anything, Sonia and her spouse are steeped in fear.
“I thought of my family, my neighbors, friends.
I told myself that I couldn't put everyone in danger.
We slept very badly that night,” continues the witness,
The day after her meeting with Abaaoud, the Francilienne decides to contact the authorities: “We had to wait hours before Hasna left the apartment.
When I called the toll-free number, I explained who I had seen, who I had met.
They didn't believe me.
I was a little threatening by saying that I was going to go to the police station next to my house, then I was called back by the SDAT”.
Heard just before her, an anti-terrorism police commissioner explained to the court: "His remarks seemed confused, sometimes disorderly, but he immediately caught our attention".
For the investigators, two hypotheses are emerging.
“The first would be for Abaaoud to be truly on our territory, which would be a cataclysm for our services and a sign of serious danger.
The second,
Imminent threat and “extreme pressure”
Summoned on November 16 for a hearing, Sonia delivers all the information she has.
In parallel with the surveillance system deployed around Hasna, who is moving heaven and earth to find accommodation for Abaaoud, the police advise Sonia to make the young woman speak.
"They told me to make her drink, which I did, and it worked," said the witness.
In confidence, Hasna finally reveals to the one who is hosting her the targets envisaged by her cousin and the date chosen by the terrorists to act: November 19.
Sonia even ends up recovering the address of the hideout dug up rue du Corbillon, in Saint-Denis, to welcome Abaaoud and his accomplice.
She recalls anti-terrorism, recounts her conversation with the terrorist's cousin and begs the police to act as quickly as possible.
Our trial file
The investigator interviewed on Friday summed up: “The risk of an attack is imminent.
It is imperative to hinder this project.
We know that they are likely to have heavy weapons, and above all we know that we have to deal with soldiers who fought in Syria and murdered 39 people in 12 minutes in the streets of Paris a few days before.
There is no possibility of recognition of the places upstream, it is a squat, therefore impossible to have the identity of the inhabitants.
And the building is not even listed in the cadastre”.
At 4:20 a.m. on November 18, 2015, the order was finally given to the Raid to intervene.
The assault, confused and complex, will lead to the neutralization of Abaaoud, his accomplice and Hasna, who was with them in the apartment.
Since then, Sonia explains that she tries “to learn to live again” but rejects the status of victims of the attacks: “I forbid myself, I do not want to take their place.
I sacrificed my life, my family, but here I am (…).
I will never regret what I have.
And if I had to do it again, I would do it again”.
*His first name has been changed for security reasons
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