Nice attack trial opens with empty chairs
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The row of metal detectors worthy of an airport at the entrance to the old Palais de Justice in Paris; the long room in light wood erected in the old dark stone waiting room, the vast glazed box, the giant screens; the blue vests of the association “Paris helps victims”, the pink vests of the organization, the red or green neckband of the civil parties depending on whether or not they accept the journalists’ approaches; many lawyers already there in previous months.
Monday, September 5, at the opening of the trial of the attack of July 14, 2016 in Nice, everything recalls that of the attacks of November 13. And at the same time, everything is different.
Outside the courthouse, the police presence has diminished; pedestrians and vehicles move freely on the Ile de la Cité, which is no longer the bunker partially closed to traffic that it had been during the nine months of “V13”. Inside, on the outskirts of the room, the crowds, the bustle and the hubbub have dropped by two tones from one trial to another.
And when, shortly before 2 p.m., the president of the specially composed assize court Laurent Raviot announced that “the criminal hearing is open”, a third of the room is empty. Only a few dozen civil parties came, out of the 865 formed before the opening of the proceedings. Some lawyers feared a trial without victims, given the distance from Nice. The hearing is likely to float a little in this so-called “great trial” room.
Eight defendants
In Nice, it’s not much different: the two huge rooms rented by the Ministry of Justice in the Acropolis convention center will ring hollow all day. The debates, which are held 700 kilometers away, are broadcast live on giant screens in front of hundreds of empty chairs. The space is planned for 700 people; at least 430 civil parties live in the Alpes-Maritimes department; only about thirty moved.
A year ago almost to the day, at the opening of the November 13 trial, the atmosphere was suffocating, saturated with excitement and emotion. The first moments were marked by the outbursts of Salah Abdeslam, the discomfort of the accused Farid Kharkhach, the words of President Jean-Louis Périès on the importance of respecting the norm in this extraordinary trial. The atmosphere is much more peaceful this time.
Where eleven defendants, some with impressive CVs, squeezed into the box, there are three this time, of a much lower caliber. Four others appear free – an eighth, detained in Tunisia where he had fled, will be tried in his absence.
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