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Added on the 08/09/2021 14:07:43 - Copyright : France 24 EN
The biggest trial in France's modern history opens on Wednesday of 20 suspects charged over the November 2015 Paris attacks that saw 130 people killed, with an expected nine months of hearings set to reopen still raw wounds. The only surviving attacker, Salah Abdeslam, will be in the dock with 13 other defendants at a purpose-built facility in central Paris. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Douglas Herbert tells us more.
William Julié, Criminal and human rights lawyer, does not believe the aggressive stance Salah Abdeslam is taking at the trial will make any difference. "The course of justice will carry on without him." Mr. Julié points out that "nobody was expecting anything else ... he has not been saying anything from Day 1, and he has been complaining about what was happening to him in custody. He always has." Responding to concerns that many of the defendants might also take a defiant stance, thereby tarnishing the credibility of the system, Mr. Julié is not convinced that "they will all go the same way as Salah Abdeslam." Especially since not all of the defendants risk "life in prison, which is where (Abdeslam) is going, obviously."
Anne-Sophie de Chaisemartin, a witness to the 2015 Paris attacks, a former France 24 Production Coordinator and current Production Director for Altice Group, joins France 24 for Special Edition coverage of the Paris Terror Attacks Trial. As the attacks were unfolding, Ms. Chaisemartin happened to be with friends close to one of the bars targeted that November night - La Belle Équipe. "We suddenly hear very loud noises - a first one, a second one, a third one. So we start getting closer to the scene. We witness all of those people lying down." She was immediately forced into a "fight-flight-or-freeze response" and never gave it a second thought. Rather than take cover, she continued to survey the scene of one of the November 13th terrorist attacks. Amid all of the carnage, Ms. Chaisemartin remembers vividly, "this crazy silence around us because we were the first ones on the scene: civilians, neighbors, shopkeepers... and as soon as I realize that my friends, my family are safe, I discover something that was very unexpected inside of me. I remember that I was trained for that, actually at France 24." She was able to use the first aid skills she had acquired as a France 24 Field Producer to help the injured. "And I think, 'you have to help them, you have to save those people, you have to do something. So I start acting like a machine and I start helping everyone that I could." She tended to the multiple bullet wounds and chest wounds, and tried to "save as many as you can... and it became the obsession of that night: 'save them all, save everyone... of course, I couldn't." And so she was forced to face the grim reality of France's deadliest attack since World War II. It took Ms. Chaisemartin six years to realize that she was also a victim of this horrific attack. "Even a first-responder or a civilian, like myself, who was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, was also a victim." Six years on, Ms. Chaisemartin is still "feeling confused. What happened that night came back a few weeks ago." And so, as today marks Day 1 of the biggest trial in French history, "today is a very difficult day." For the past six years, Ms. Chaisemartin has kept all of her memories of November 13th in a box: "the smell of death, the horror, the screaming" and she simply "carried on" and fully embraced every aspect of her life. "I'm a very happy woman, I'm very active, I love what I do, I love my wife, I love my family." Having said that, Ms. Chaisemartin must now come face to face with the way this event has impacted her entire existence, meaning she no longer has the luxury of keeping the memories of that fateful night buried in a box. "Today this box is coming back,'' explains Ms. Chaisemartin. "I have to take it out, I have to look at it and I'm facing it all again. So, I realize today that I need some answers. I need Salah Abdeslam to talk."
Marine Le Pen et Jean Luc Mélenchon en tête du premier tour de l’élection présidentielle dans l’Hérault. Le résultat dans le département n’aura pas suffit à faire passer le candidat de la France insoumise au second tour de l’élection. A Montpellier, ce dimanche 23 avril 2017, nous avons recueilli les réactions des soutiens d’Emanuel Macron et de Marine Le Pen, vainqueurs à l’issue du premier tour. A. Tourres
The trial of 2015 Paris attacks survivor Salah Abdeslam and co-defendant Soufien Ayari continues in Brussels under high security and with the absence of Abdeslam. IMAGES of the court exterior
TRANSPORT - Pour un premier voyage sans encombre face au TGV de la SNCF, la compagnie italienne Trenitalia aligne des prix bas, des fauteuils de cuir et des machines à café de compétition. Partie à 7h26 de la Gare de Lyon à Paris, la Frecciarossa (flèche rouge) 9281 est arrivée à Lyon à 9h18 le samedi 18 décembre, avec deux minutes d’avance, avant de poursuivre son chemin jusqu’en Italie. Pas de drapeaux ni de sirènes syndicales au départ pour protester contre l’arrivée sur les rails français du premier train à grande vitesse en concurrence frontale avec la SNCF. Seul problème, technique: les écrans de la gare ne peuvent pas encore afficher le logo rouge de Trenitalia. “Le train est plein”, se réjouit Roberto Rinaudo, le directeur général de Trenitalia France (ex-Thello). Un effet de curiosité, des prix attractifs et aussi la peur de la grève SNCF, finalement évitée in extremis, ont attiré les clients. ----- Abonnez-vous à la chaîne YouTube du HuffPost dès maintenant : https://www.youtube.com/c/lehuffpost Pour plus de contenu du HuffPost: Web: https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeHuffPost/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeHuffPost Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lehuffpost/ Pour recevoir gratuitement notre newsletter quotidienne: https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/newsletter/default/
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