The trial of the Copernic Street attack, which left four dead and dozens wounded on October 3, 1980, continues, in the absence of the only accused, the Lebanese-Canadian Hassan Diab, who claims...Copernic Street bombing trial: the journalist and the suspect Photo taken on October 3, 1980. An inspector at the scene of a bomb explosion at the synagogue rue Copernic in Paris. Forty-three years after the attack that left four dead and dozens injured, the trial opened on April 3, 2023, in Paris. AFP - GEORGES GOBET Text by: RFI Follow 2 min The trial of the Copernic Street bombing, which left f

Copernic Street bombing trial: the journalist and the suspect

Photo taken on October 3, 1980. An inspector at the scene of a bomb explosion at the synagogue rue Copernic in Paris. Forty-three years after the attack that left four dead and dozens injured, the trial opened on April 3, 2023, in Paris. AFP - GEORGES GOBET

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The trial of the Copernic Street bombing, which left four dead and dozens wounded on October 3, 1980, continues, in the absence of the only accused, the Lebanese-Canadian Hassan Diab, who maintains his innocence. This Wednesday, April 5, the court heard Jean Chichizola of Le Figaro. The only journalist to have met and interviewed Hassan Diab in Canada at the end of 2007, before his indictment, he is accused of bias by the defence.

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Record of hearingLaura Martel

In the fall of 2007, Jean Chichizola learned that a suspect had been identified: armed with a name -Hassan Diab- and the address of the university where he taught, he jumped on a plane to Ottawa. In the small lecture hall, he attends the course taught in English by the sociologist. The first thing that challenges him is "that Hassan Diab looks very much like the sketch of the suspect, it's quite striking," says the journalist. Another "disturbing" point, he says, "I inform him that he is suspected of terrorism, he tells me that he is totally surprised, but does not seem to be... He is cold, controlled, asks no questions.

Hassan Diab then told him, as transcribed in Le Figaro of October 24, that he was the victim of a homonymy - Diab being a common name in Lebanon - that he had never belonged to any organization and that he was ready to explain himself in a judicial framework.

Hassan Diab has not yet been indicted and you write 'the leader of the commando lives peacefully in Canada', without conditional, what about the presumption of innocence? ", attacks Me Bourdon who cites other formulations that seem biased to him.

I made the effort to go see him (...) and that day, he did not convince me, "retorts the witness, who denies being "on a crusade" against the accused.

The tone rises, the president calls for calm. "In the end, you're good in your boots"? persifed William Bourdon. "Completely... There are 3 hypotheses, recalls the journalist: homonymy, innocence and the third... how guilty he is! " he says. The lawyer's scathing conclusion: "Everyone expected you to say that!

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Copernic Street attack: a trial complicated by time and the absence of the only accused
Forty-three years later, the trial of the attack on the rue Copernic opens in Paris

Copernic Street bombing trial: the journalist and the suspect

Copernic Street bombing trial: the journalist and the suspect

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