Published
Update
Article written by
/2021/12/14/61b8b98ead35d_francetv-info.png)
The trial of the three men linked to the murderers of Father Hamel opened on Monday February 14 in Paris. Among the witnesses, Guy Coponet, who had also been assaulted by the two terrorists before the latter were shot dead by the police
At 92, Guy Coponet, survivor of the attack on the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, in July 2016, had been stabbed by the assassins of Father Hamel, and left for dead. He wishes today, by attending the hearing, to understand and try to forgive. “Those who are responsible, if they can ask forgiveness from everyone they hurt, I think we will have won our day”confides the latter.
Same humility with Roseline Hamel, Father Jacques Hamel’s sister. “I don’t expect excuses, if they say a few words they will be wholeheartedly accepted”, she said. On July 26, 2016, two 19-year-old terrorists burst into a church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray (Seine-Maritime), during mass. They slaughtered Father Hamel there, before being shot by the special forces. The other major absentee from the trial is the jihadist Rachid Kassim, the alleged instigator of the attack, reported missing in Iraq. The alleged accomplices of the assailants contest their participation in the attack.