Like many of the accused, including Vanessa, Kareena, Loik, Robert, Naima or Siham, Salah Abdeslam, “half Morocco, half French”, described their sad lives from the attacks that led to the deaths of 130 people in Paris and Saint-Denis. November 13, 2015.
In an unusual trial, several civil parties (more than 2,400 in total), relatives of survivors or victims of the attack, have the right to speak again before their lawyers’ petitions begin this week. Civil parties wishing to do so have already had the opportunity to speak at the head of this extraordinary inquiry in October.
At first to intervene, Vanessa, 33, had her voice trembled, describing her refusal after an evening of attacks and a long time. “Okay, okay,” she repeated to herself, “like a spell” of bullets being thrown around her.
“I did their technique when the kids were scared: I hope every minute of waiting for the next one will be the last,” he says. “I was like this for four and a half hours,” Pataclan said, neutralizing the attackers. For the next five years, Vanessa “pretended everything was fine.”
“Then one day, I did not sleep, not a second longer. No more rest (…) With fatigue, I began to think a little less that everything was fine,” she cried.
The young woman says the carefree Vanessa was orphaned before November 13 that having the opportunity to testify in court has opened up “the outside of humanity.”
Carina, a French-speaking American, gasped as she described the strange noise she heard from the “little cupboard” she had hidden at the start of the attack. “I thought it was music, and then I realized it was the mourning of dying people.”
“Heartbreaker”
Kareena survived. “I was saved,” she said. “The next day, I discovered post-traumatic stress disorder. My 5-year-old son clicked on a toy and closed it. I was so scared. It’s been like that ever since.”
Her children “absorbed” their mother’s stress. “It’s always hard for my kids. It breaks my heart.”
The testimonies continue and the suffering that has poisoned the lives of the survivors has remained the same for more than six years after the attacks. Survivors are often plagued by guilt. Emmanuel said, “If the bullet did not explode in my knee during the impact, it would have passed through many bodies before me.” “I do not understand why we’re so excited, and there are those of us who are leaving,” said Cyprian, who went along with the interrogation of several friends.
“After the attacks, there was a kind of order not to have hatred. Do not bow down. Initially, I told myself I was very happy with it. But really, yes, I hate it,” Fran பிரான்ois said. Returns to the dock.
“I hate, I’m not ashamed. It’s normal. I hate all those who took all those lives, destroyed many, tried to take others, including mine. I still have a dull rage inside me.” .
Naima, who was 16 on November 13, also speaks to the defendants. “O accuser, who has so much view of me, what do you remember from this?”. In the box, no one moved.
“I’m on the wire, sometimes the wire is twisted, sometimes the wire is loose,” Naima says, very weak and trembling.
“I work every day to stay calm for the rest of my life with the people I love,” he said in tears.
“Total coffee junkie. Tv ninja. Unapologetic problem solver. Beer expert.”