The trial of the July 14, 2016 attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, which is due to last until December 16, opened on Monday, September 5 before the special assize court in Paris.
Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the driver of the truck which drove into the crowd, killing 86 people and injuring 318, was shot dead by the police a few minutes after the tragedy.
Eight other people - seven men and a woman, accused of having helped him in his project - are judged, but only three of them appear for acts of terrorism.
At the helm this Tuesday, Audrey, 20, recounted her ordeal since the death of her twin sister, killed in the attack.
At the specially composed Court of Assizes of Paris,
From the height of her 20 years, Audrey carries on her frail shoulders all the misery of the world.
It took a lot of courage for this flirtatious young woman to come, this Tuesday, to speak, at the bar of the specially composed Assize Court, of her twin sister, Laura, killed during the attack in Nice, in July 2016 On a wall in the courtroom, a photo of the two girls, then teenagers, is projected.
"We were like ass and shirt," she says in her own words, as tears roll down her cheeks.
“We looked like two drops of water.
It was my mirror.
She had my character, I had hers.
We had no secrets from each other.
She told me everything, she was my diary.
He was the love of my life, half of my life.
»
Long blond hair, sleeveless houndstooth pattern sweater, black top, Audrey wants above all to pay tribute to this sister who had "the heart on her hand", "knew how to listen" and had "so much love for his family and friends.
“She had dreams, like all children, and passions.
We did the same dance class, we slept in the same room, we did stupid things together.
This evening of July 14, 2016, Audrey remembers it "to perfection".
At the time, the twins were "13 and a half years old" and were in 4th grade.
On vacation, they asked their parents to accompany them on the Promenade des Anglais, where they had made an appointment with their friends.
They ate ice cream, laughed with their friends on the beach.
“I felt like I felt his last breath”
Audrey was even "reassured", because that evening, her sister had reconciled with their mother, after an argument the day before.
Everything was “incredible”.
Until she sees Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, driving a heavyweight, rush into the crowd.
She hears screams that still echo in her head six years later.
The truck arrives at her at full speed, “all fire extinguished”.
She barely has time to "push" her girlfriend who was in the path of the terrorist.
In a fraction of a second, the magical evening turns into a nightmare.
She jumps onto the beach, a few meters below, to take shelter.
Her mother follows her.
But Laura is absent.
"Where is she?"
This is the question that has been on a loop all evening.
»
Even today, she remembers the bodies scattered on the Promenade des Anglais, covered with sheets, and "the smell of blood".
Audrey has a bad feeling.
“I felt like I felt his last breath.
She was my twin sister, I felt everything she had, her sadness, her anger.
And then I no longer felt it.
However, she remains hopeful of finding her alive.
Maybe she had time to take refuge somewhere.
While her parents stay in town to look for their daughter, Audrey returns home.
"The first thing my brother said to me was, 'Why did you go out?'
He yelled at us as if it were our fault,” she recalls.
The young girl then goes to bed, exhausted and frightened, hoping to see her sister again when she wakes up.
"I screamed, so screamed, I didn't want to believe it"
But the next day, Laura is not there.
“I heard my parents in the living room.
My mother was sitting there, she looked like a zombie.
She hadn't slept, she was pale, my father was on the phone.
“With her friends, she calls all the hospitals, “to find out if they had found my twin.
" In vain.
Three days later, at the victims' house, a commissioner asked to speak to him, as well as to his sister and brother.
The words of the policeman rang her.
"He said, 'I have good news and bad news. The good news is that your sister has been found, the bad news is that she is dead.'
Audrey steps out into the hallway and collapses.
“I screamed, so screamed, I didn't want to believe it.
»
She then remembers her mother, sitting on a bed in the Pasteur hospital, crying.
And who, seeing her, shouted to the staff: “Look, it's my daughter, it's Laura.
She is not dead.
» Audrey understands that she will have to leave her parents for a few weeks, the time for them « to accept that I am Audrey and not Laura ».
His sister's funeral is an almost insurmountable ordeal for the family.
Audrey chose a pink dress, "her favorite color", and white shoes.
“I put my blanket in his coffin and I kept his,” she breathes, sobs in her voice, a Kleenex in her hand.
In the "hole" in which the coffin was placed, the young girl threw a flower and told her sister how much she loved her.
Since then, she goes to the cemetery every year, for their birthday, for Christmas.
“I can't go alone, but not with my parents, because I can't see them cry.
»
“You took away my sister but not my strength”
A question has haunted her since the tragedy.
“How am I going to move on without her in my life?
In her prayers, Audrey asks her twin to "give her the strength to continue".
She managed to obtain a CAP and a Bac pro despite her "suicidal desires".
But his youth was completely ruined by Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.
“I'm afraid to be outside, fireworks, she continues.
I fear nightclubs, crowds, gatherings, demonstrations.
I fear everything.
Audrey is "corroded by anger", by "sorrow".
She resents "everyone" and "gets into a lot of trouble" with her parents.
She tries despite everything to get her head above water, wants to succeed professionally.
Then she turns to the defendants.
“You, my sister's killers, yes you.
Look at me, look at my sister you took from me.
You have the privilege of seeing his double, but never forget the anger on my face.
She adds: “I have this strength to talk to you, you took my sister away from me but not my strength, you only hardened it.
»
Justice
Trial of the July 14 attack in Nice: “I took his hand and I never let go”…
Justice
Trial of the July 14 attack in Nice: Faced with the images broadcast, silence and cries
July 14 attack in Nice
Nice
Paca
Terrorism
Court case
Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel
July 14th
Justice