"Ten months of trial, it helps to rebuild. It's over, it's going to leave a void", summarizes Sophie, survivor of the Bataclan, relieved and with tears in her eyes after the announcement, Wednesday, June 29, of the verdict of the trial attacks of November 13.

More than six years after the worst crime of the post-war period in France, the special assize court in Paris sentenced Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of commandos who killed 130, to life imprisonment on Wednesday evening. , the heaviest penalty in the criminal code.

The other defendants were given sentences ranging from two years in prison to life, with a period of safety for some and incompressible for others.

>> To read also: the trial of the attacks of November 13 "will remain as a great moment of justice"

Before the start of the reading of the verdict, the vast courtroom had never been so full, and the survivors and relatives of victims were huddling together on the wooden benches, in an electric atmosphere, far from the big silence of the first day.

The reading of the motivations by President Jean-Louis Périès will take less than an hour.

After his last words, the first civil parties leave the room, some in tears.

"The sentences are quite heavy," said Sophie, moved.

"They won't get out of jail right away. We're going to enjoy it, I feel a lot of relief."

She takes David Fritz, a Bataclan survivor, in her arms.

"I feel that I have grown up. It's important to see that justice has been done. It was necessary. It's a bit of a floating moment, as if we were slamming a big iron door", details he.

"Rebuild as a group and not individually"

For Bruno Poncet, also a Bataclan survivor, "it's a real relief to be done with the trial. I came almost every day. It wasn't always easy. There is a fear of emptiness today but it's time to get out of it", he explains.

He also wonders: "Some sentences may seem a bit heavy. I wonder about our prisons which are already overloaded. I'm afraid we're creating monsters".

Inside the vast courtroom, civil parties linger, some seem very moved.

Some climb on the light wooden benches to see the box.

The three defendants who appeared free, and who will come out free, showed smiles and relief.

They were very surrounded by civil parties, as during a good part of the trial.

>> See also: trial of November 13: "It plunged me back into hell" testifies Charles, brother of a victim of the Bataclan

Philippe Duperron, president of the association 13Onze15, considers that the "reparation" of the victims "consisted essentially in the holding of the trial, the possibility offered to express themselves, to submit their pain and their suffering. Now, this depends on each individual , some needed this prison sentence, he adds.

"The way to face this horror was to rebuild as a group, and not individually", underlines Arthur Dénouveaux, president of Life for Paris.

"We needed to stick together and hear what justice had to say to us after six and a half years."

Before leaving the waiting room, the civil parties come to register one last time with their badges, all smiles for some.

Others immortalize the outcome of these ten months of trial with a photo, a last kiss, together.

A lot of benevolence emerges from their discussions.

Many of them join the two brasseries opposite the courthouse, saturated with discussions in the night.

With AFP

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