3. Vertigo

Two years after meeting Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the commandos from the November 13 attacks, Me Olivia Ronen was appointed to be his lawyer alongside two other very experienced colleagues: Frank Berton and Sven Mary. But very quickly, both lawyers left the case. Olivia Ronen finds herself alone on the defense bench. The hearing is a few months away. The pressure is mounting for the young lawyer. How do you prepare a file of this magnitude? To begin her work, she first immerses herself in the “instruction file”. This is the investigation carried out by anti-terrorism judges. It is made up of 500 volumes and contains thousands of pieces. But for Olivia Ronen, there is no question of leaving any of these documents aside. In this file, Salah Abdeslam is presented as being one of the co-perpetrators of the attacks. According to the magistrates, even if the terrorist did not shoot, he has the same responsibility for the attacks as the other members of the Islamist commandos. He then faces irreducible life imprisonment. The lawyer is preparing what will be the longest trial in legal history in France: it will last ten months. To find a little support, she confided in a young colleague, Me Martin Vettes. This lawyer knows how to find the words, she trusts him. It is therefore quite natural that she chooses him to be at her side to defend Salah Abdeslam. The trial is approaching... Olivia Ronen's name is now everywhere in the press. Journalists contact her for interviews. But the lawyer will not say anything before the trial begins. In this episode of the podcast "The Terrorist", Me Olivia Ronen recounts her two months of preparation for this trial, her doubts and her fears on the microphone of Noémie Schulz, legal journalist.

The podcast “The terrorist” is produced by Europe 1 Studio.

[On June 29, 2022, Salah Abdeslam was convicted by the Paris Special Assize Court for his participation in the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015. He did not appeal. His sentence, irreducible life imprisonment, is final. This podcast is therefore not intended to repeat the trial. It's about telling it from a unique point of view, that of Salah Abdeslam's lawyer, Me. Olivia Ronen.]

Credits

Journalist: Noémie Schulz

Director: Christophe Daviaud with Clément Ibrahim

Production: Fannie Rascle with Camille Bichler

Writing and distribution: Lisa Soster

Original Music: Sandy Lavallart

Musical Supervision: The Supervision

Visual: Sidonie Mangin with Axelle Maurel