Nice attack trial: Mohamed Ghraieb's wife defends her husband tooth and nail
The hall of the Special Assize Court of Paris (illustration image).
AP - Francois Mori
Text by: Laura Martel
2 mins
Despite more than five hours spent at the helm, the testimony of this 54-year-old Protestant Finn did not help to clarify the gray areas already pointed out to her husband on Wednesday.
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From our special correspondent at the Paris courthouse,
With a marked accent, but in excellent French, Merlé immediately proclaims her unfailing confidence in the innocence of her husband whom she describes as “
generous
”, “
hardworking
”, “
spiritual
” but not religious.
But from the first exchanges with the president, tension sets in.
“
Where did you meet your husband?
“, he asks her.
“
In Nice, in 2005
,” she replies.
“
Are you sure it wasn't in Tunisia?
I sense a hesitation…
”
► To read also: At the trial of the Nice attack, the evasive Mohamed Ghraieb
The question might seem unimportant, except that the couple's answer does not correspond to what they had declared to the personality investigator.
What cast suspicion on their sincerity.
“
We have the impression that you are trying to protect your husband, which is understandable, but you often beat around the bush and I am not sure that it will serve him
”, deplores the president at the end of his questions.
“
An acquaintance, not a friend
”
An interrogation during which Merlé effectively tried to minimize the role of her husband, prosecuted for terrorist criminal association because of his numerous contacts with Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel and for having traveled with him on July 11 aboard the future truck- ram.
The killer was her husband's third most frequent contact.
“ He
was an acquaintance, not a friend
,” she defends herself.
And if she had told the police that he had come to their home 263 times, it was "
in the garage and the hallway, never in the apartment
", she maintains today.
And those two messages from her husband's phone glorifying the January 2015 attacks?
“
Rejoicing in evil is not my husband.
Are you sure he sent it?
“, she evacuates.
As for the hasty purchase the day before the attack of a car by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, during which the future terrorist refuses to shake his hand, Merlé affirms that the couple saw nothing other than the opportunity for a "
good deal
".
"
We met a person who helped us with our move, went to repair a bicycle saddle and all of a sudden, we are terrorists, that shocks me
", she ends up getting carried away, recalling that the couple spontaneously reported to the police.
The shock, on the side of the civil parties, will be to learn that as a hypnotherapist, Merlé treated victims of the attack, without revealing his link with the case.
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France
Justice
Terrorism
Nice attack