Inside the Paris Attacks Trial

November 12, 2024 at 07:40PM

The trial for the perpetrators of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris at the Bataclan and elsewhere began in the autumn of 2021, and Emmanuel Carrère was there every day, hearing every story from every side. It was a lot of trauma to absorb, and produced a harrowing, compelling, important read that drives home the scale of the human cost, to everyone involved — though some paid more than others. (Of the men standing trial, 19 of 20 were ultimately convicted on all counts.)

On the second day, while the plaintiffs were still coming forward, it was announced that the victims’ testimonies would soon be heard. Suddenly, Abdeslam stood up in the box, made signs until his microphone was turned on, and asked if we would also be hearing from those who had been bombed in Syria and Iraq. That would be discussed in due course, the presiding judge responded, and switched off his microphone.

In general, the comment was seen as a provocation. Still, it left me thinking. It invokes the so-called “defence of rupture,” introduced in 1987 by the hugely provocative lawyer Jacques Vergès during the trial of the Nazi officer Klaus Barbie. Granted, said Vergès, Barbie tortured prisoners in Lyon during the German occupation of France, but the French army did the same in Algeria in the 60s. So every time the topic of torture in Lyon was brought up, Vergès’ defence focused on the torture in Algeria.

While I would be surprised if Olivia Ronen, Abdeslam’s very young lawyer, went as far as emulating Vergès, it is true that the French army tortured in Algeria, even if that doesn’t put it on a par with the SS. And it’s true that the international coalition to which France belonged dropped bombs on Iraq – and on Syria starting in 2014 – causing dozens, perhaps hundreds, of civilian casualties. I was all the more surprised while going over the order of indictment – which everyone agrees is rigorous and extremely well put together – to find a reference to “alleged civilian massacres said to be committed by the west in the course of the bombings.” I’m no expert, however, it serves neither the truth nor justice to call indisputable civilian massacres “alleged civilian massacres.” Nor does it serve the interests of justice and truth to deny that Abdeslam’s conditions of detention are extremely harsh. Six years in solitary confinement is harsh indeed, as Ronen underscored at the first hearing. The young man who had just entered the box like a bull in the arena had hardly spoken to anyone for six years, she said, and it was her duty to say so.

I listened to her, I agreed with her, at the same time I thought about the email that Frank Berton, Abdeslam’s previous lawyer, received after complaining that his client was under round-the-clock video surveillance:

Dear sir,

Ever since her evening at the Bataclan, my daughter-in-law has also been under video surveillance 24 hours a day, in the hospital.

This situation doesn’t trouble her, because she’s in a deep coma.

Nor does it trouble my son, who lies in the cemetery.

I respect your work and your convictions, but there are limits when faced with people’s suffering.