Nice attack trial: CCTV images will be released on Thursday

Europe 1 with AFP 5:52 p.m., September 14, 2022

The video surveillance images of the attack in Nice, which killed 86 people on July 14, 2016, will be broadcast Thursday "at the end of the morning" at the trial which has been held in Paris since September 5, the president of the court announced on Wednesday. special seating.

They can be seen by everyone, including the public and the press, in Paris and in the broadcast room in Nice, the court also ruled.

These "extremely violent images" are indeed "likely to enlighten the court" on the criminal act committed by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel at the wheel of a ram truck on the Promenade des Anglais, said President Laurent Raviot.

And if no defendant is tried for complicity, the attack does have "a connection with the terrorist criminal association" for which three of the eight defendants are tried, added the magistrate.

A viewing that can "enlighten the court on the number of victims"

The president also considered that this viewing could "enlighten the court on the number of victims" and help it to "appreciate the notion of proximity and perimeter of the attack".

At the end of the verdict, if some defendants are found guilty, the court will have to assess, during a civil hearing, the admissibility of the approximately 2,000 civil party applications registered at the start of the trial.

>> READ ALSO

- Trial of the Nice attack: a "weight that has weighed for six years" for the victims

The president finally explained that he had "taken into account the fact that the viewing of this seal, requested by a large number of civil parties, (could) contribute to their understanding of the event and the reparation process".

The court rejected a request for a partial closed session made by one of the lawyers for the civil parties, which would have excluded the press and the public from the projection of these images.

But a "consequent order service" will be present in the courtroom and in the retransmission rooms, in Paris as in Nice, so that "there is no possibility of capturing images".

20 surveillance cameras

These images filmed by 20 CCTV cameras in the city of Nice start at 9:34 p.m., "from the moment Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel arrives at his truck" parked in the street, by bicycle, the policeman who had been in charge of the incident explained on Friday. exploit for the purposes of the investigation.

They include a 41-minute break, during which "we lose sight of it", before the actual attack, lasting 4 minutes 17, from the moment the 19-tonne rented a few days earlier by the The assailant appears, "all lights off", on the sidewalk of the Promenade des Anglais, at 10:33 p.m.

>> READ ALSO

- At the trial of the Nice attack, the testimony of two "heroes"

The president of the court himself previewed the video on Tuesday evening in the company of the court, defense lawyers and many civil party lawyers.

"There is no obligation to view these images. People who are hesitant to view these images, I strongly advise them not to do so," he warned.

"I think we have to be aware of the fear that these images will cause," one of the general counsel, Jean-Michel Bourlès, also said on Friday.