Civil party who came to the first day of the hearing which begins at 1:30 p.m., Danielle Lechailler, 73, admits still feeling “anger”.
“For 6 years we have had time to cope” but “there is a scar that is there”. “We expect sanctions and the application of sentences from justice,” she said firmly.
A total of 86 people lost their lives and more than 450 others were injured in this attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, the deadliest committed on French soil after those of November 13, 2015 against the Stade de France, the Bataclan and the Parisian terraces.
In the absence of the assailant, killed by the police on the evening of the attack, eight people of Franco-Tunisian, Tunisian or Albanian nationality, including a woman, appeared before the Special Assize Court of Paris, in the room specially built for the trial of 13-November in the courthouse of the Ile de la Cité.
Compared to the November 13 trial, security measures have been significantly reduced around the Palais de Justice. Cars can circulate freely in front of the Palace. However, controls remain strict for access to the courtroom.
“The external threat has decreased compared to what we experienced between 2014 and 2018,” said Monday morning on RTL, Nicolas Lerner, director general of the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI). “Nevertheless, he nuanced, it is true that for a few months, we have had a certain number of weak signals which show us that the intentions of terrorist groups (in Syria and Iraq) remain to hit us, to hit the West, Europe, France”.
If the French intelligence services “have not detected in recent months any concrete projects targeting France”, the fact remains that “these terrorist groups are more and more able to strike us”, he warned. .
The trial is scheduled to run until December 16.
The first day will be devoted to questioning the identity of the accused and updating the civil party applications. They were already 865 before the trial.
The first words of the defendants are expected on Tuesday.
Three of them – Ramzi Kevin Arefa, Chokri Chafroud and Artan Henaj – appear detained, including one (Artan Henaj) in connection with another case.
Four others – Maksim Celaj, Endri Elezi, Mohamed Ghraieb and Enkeledja Zace – have been placed under judicial supervision and will appear free before the court.
The eighth, Brahim Tritrou, will be judged in his absence after having broken his judicial control. According to his lawyer, he is currently detained in Tunisia. An arrest warrant has been issued against him by the French courts.
– “the ideology of armed jihad –
Only three defendants (Ramzi Kevin Arefa, Chokri Chafroud and Mohamed Ghraieb) are prosecuted for terrorist criminal association. In a state of legal recidivism, the first incurs life imprisonment, the other two a sentence of twenty years in prison.
For the prosecution, they would have “contributed to the preparation” of the attack committed by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. This 31-year-old Tunisian, delivery driver with an unstable character, was better known before the facts for acts of violence, in particular against his wife, than for his closeness to the jihadist movement.
None of the defendants is being prosecuted for complicity in murder or attempted murder by an organized gang. The investigation could not determine whether they were aware of the planned attack.
The prosecution, however, stressed their “very close proximity” to Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel and considered that they were “fully aware” of his adherence “to the ideology of armed jihad” and of “his fascination for passages to the violent acts”.
According to the indictment, it was only ten days before the attack that the Tunisian showed signs of radicalization, even if he “had been part of an ideological approach of jihadist inspiration for several months before”.
He was not on file for radicalization by the intelligence services.
If IS claimed responsibility for the attack, the investigation could not establish any direct link between Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel and the jihadist organization. This claim “seems to be more (…) of pure opportunity”, she concludes.
The five other defendants are prosecuted for common law offenses – criminal association and offenses against the legislation on weapons – and incur five to ten years of imprisonment.
The trial will be broadcast simultaneously in a hall of the Acropolis convention center in Nice.
Like that of November 13, the trial of the Nice attack will be filmed and recorded for the historical archives.
