For ten weeks, the families of the 228 victims of the flight AF-447 crash linking Rio to Paris on June 1, 2009, will be plunged into drama. On the bench of the defendants: Airbus and Air France, prosecuted for manslaughter
. They risk up to 225,000 euros in fines. Among the relatives of the victims: Claire Durousseaux. She lost her niece, Elise, 26, and her husband Sébastien, 28.
“They never came back“, deplores Claire Durousseaux, showing a photo, “They were a happy couple, very much in love“. For thirteen years, mourning is difficult to do for this family. “We find it difficult to achieve. We didn’t see a body. Sometimes we tell ourselves that she will come back“, sighs this Tourangelle, sorry. “Sébastien is still at the bottom of the water“. A month after the accident, the body of Elise was recovered and then repatriated to France. But without the family being able to see her.
Thirteen years of waiting
For the families, this trial is already a victory. “It was very hard. Thirteen years of waiting is too long. After the dismissal in 2019, Claire Durousseaux says that the families, united in association, fought with their lawyers for the opening of this trial. “You have to hit hard to destabilize Airbus and Air France__”.
Claire and her sister, Elise’s mom, are apprehensive about the trial, “we are a little fearful, and then it’s the trial of the heart, they are going to tell us about Elise and all these passengers. They were many…“Until December 8, the relatives of the victims and experts will speak at the helm of the Paris Criminal Court
. An opportunity to perhaps have answers insist Tourangelle, “we want to know what happened__. It’s a fight for everyone, everyone who flies“. But it’s also a battle for his niece, “we know that if something had happened to my sister and me, Elise, who had a lot of character, would have fought. So we do it for her“.
At the end of the ten weeks, the families can try to move forward, “this accident shattered our lives, like those of the families of the 228 victims. We’ll never get over it__. The trial will not allow us to cure it but perhaps to move forward more peacefully…“, confides Claire Durousseaux. She and her sister will go back and forth to follow the hearings during these three months.