November 13 trial: Catherine Bertrand, drawing to testify
Audio 01:18
Catherine Bertrand released her comic strip "Chronicles of a Survivor" in 2018 by Editions de la Martinière.
© Editions de la Martinière
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 is coming to an end.
The verdict is expected for June 29, in less than a month.
This week, the floor is still with the lawyers of the civil parties.
And some, in their pleadings, rely on drawings made by survivors of the attacks, in particular, those of Catherine Bertrand.
Advertising
Read more
Catherine Bertrand published a comic strip
Chronicle of a survivor
in 2018. She has been exhibiting her works on the internet and in a café for two months.
I think I underestimated the violence of the broadcast of yesterday's audios where it discusses tranquilou bilou dosage and explosive recipe of TATP.
Today is... judicial hangover pic.twitter.com/bXC5joh4E7
— Catherine Bertrand \o/ 💙💛 (@cathbertrand5) April 7, 2022
But seeing her drawings projected to the audience is a reward for this Bataclan survivor.
“
I have come a long way.
After the Bataclan, my drawings looked like nothing at all
, explains Catherine Bertrand to
Marine de la Moissonnière
who follows the trial for RFI.
And so there, I actually see the evolution with my drawings which tremble with fear and anguish, with my colored drawings projected in the courtroom.
»
“
I treat myself through drawing
”
Catherine Bertrand was a photo archivist before the attacks.
Drawing, which was just a hobby, became his lifeline and his job.
“
After the attacks, I was unable to speak.
I couldn't make correct sentences, I went through the drawing.
For me, it's a kind of therapy.
I take care of myself by drawing.
It's sometimes when I draw that I realize what's going on in my head.
»
Solicited by the lawyers, the 41-year-old young woman, who did not want to testify at the bar, expresses herself with her drawings.
And it also carries the voice of other victims: “
The trauma, the bereavement, the loss of a child, becoming an orphan... All of this cannot be seen physically.
For me, my job is really to show the invisible.
»
Catherine Bertrand hopes to touch the accused with her drawings.
Until the end of the pleadings of the civil parties, she will sit closer to them to watch their reactions.
►Also read: At the November 13 trial, lovers and orphans of terrorism
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
France
Justice
Comic
Culture
Trial of the attacks of November 13