On the first day of the trial of the November 13 attacks, the provocations of Salah Abdeslam – archyworldys

The trial of the November 13 attacks opened in a bunker on Wednesday September 8 in Paris. Ile de la Cité half closed, sector crisscrossed by hundreds of armed men, diverted traffic, unique and unusual access from behind the old courthouse. Twelve security gates with X-ray conveyor belts welcome, as at the airport, the followers of a high security audience. Pushing the wrong door sets off a loud alarm. On the ground, the wrought iron plates leading to the pipes have been sealed.

In the enclosure, nobody circulates without a badge hanging from the neck: black cordon, lawyers; blue, the civilians in charge of the organization; orange, the press; red, the civil parties who do not want to speak to the orange cords or be filmed by their cameras; green, those who agree to be interviewed; yellow, that of the gendarmes responsible for ensuring, among other things, the strict respect by the orange cords of red lights or green lights displayed by the civil parties. A handful of them have not yet chosen their color, they both wear around their necks.

On this first day devoted to procedural formalities, the civil parties are much less numerous than the lawyers, grouped together in the back of the long and modern room of light wood built for the occasion inside the ancient room of the steps. lost. Impressive ephemeral setting for a historic trial.

The imposing safety device, the original decor, the expectation that surrounds the event and the prospect of plunging back into trauma six years later arouse a certain feverishness. We jump when the bell sounds, three quarters of an hour late, announcing the opening of the hearing. The magistrates of the specially composed Assize Court take their seats in absolute silence. The atmosphere is saturated with emotion. A young performer, the first person invited to the bar by the placid president of the court, Jean-Louis Peries, tangles her brushes when announcing her identity and her functions, smiles, breathes, asks ” sorry “, then start again.

Limited cooperation

It is now up to the accused to present themselves, each in turn, in alphabetical order, which is also the one in which the eleven who appear detained were placed in the box. Salah Abdeslam is there, on the far right, black top, black mask leaving a full beard overflowing, shoulder-length hair. The only surviving member of the November 13, 2015 commandos is the focus of attention. Will he be more talkative than he has been since his arrest in March 2016?

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