Like all witnesses, he began by stating his identity: “François Molins, 68 years old, magistrate, domiciled at 5 quai de l’Horloge.” It is the address of the Court of Cassation, where the former public prosecutor of Paris occupies the functions of attorney general. It is also the address of the courthouse where the trial of the November 13 attacks is being held.
Broken to the rules of an assize court, the one who now occupies the highest post of magistrate of the public prosecutor’s office faces the president, Wednesday, November 17. An unprecedented situation for him. The one who was the “upper hierarchy” of the three advocates general to his right is not there to bring the accusation but to testify. He doesn’t communicate, he tells.
“I think if I am here it is to tell the court what I experienced during the 11 days of the investigation [préliminaire]“, begins François Molins, sitting behind the desk due to sciatica. He indulges in a kind of “retex” personal and professional, named after these “feedback” that he organized at the Paris prosecutor’s office after each attack “to find out what went wrong, be better next time”.
For November 13, 2015, nothing seemed to be able to prepare the magistrates of section C1 [antiterroriste] To “acts of such magnitude and on eight sites”. Six years later, the most famous magistrate of the French – who were regularly suspended from his controlled press conferences – is ready to be held accountable.
“This terrorist attack was not avoided. I have always experienced this type of situation as a failure.”
François Molins, magistratebefore the Special Assize Court of Paris, November 17, 2021
His Pyrenean accent has not changed, his phrasing is still as surgical. But its flow is faster. He must summarize in the preamble the three years preceding the attacks. “We began to be confronted with jihadist terrorism in the years 2011-2012. We then witnessed the departures of French people in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
In March 2012, a few months after his arrival at the Paris prosecutor’s office, the attack committed by Mohamed Merah in Toulouse and Montauban took place. The general public discovers the face of the prosecutor. This one will unfortunately reappear several times, depending on “the intensification of the threat” and some “massification of litigation” jihadist. In his dark costume, François Molins illustrates it with two figures: “ten files opened in 2012, against 239 in 2016.” In the middle, there is the proclamation of the caliphate by the terrorist group Islamic State, in June 2014. Despite the judicialization of the cases of French people trying to join or joining the Iraqi-Syrian zone, the attacks multiply. “With November 13, we fall into a mass slaughter.”
Like all the witnesses who took the stand before him, François Molins recounts his November 13th. Tired by three days of meetings in Marrakech (Morocco) devoted to the fight against terrorism, he is getting ready to go to bed early that evening, when he receives a call around 9 p.m. informing him of an explosion at the Stade de France.
The magistrate goes from “we” to “I”: “I have the reflex to turn on my television on a continuous news channel, I see a banner on the shootings. I understood immediately that we were there, that it was something very heavy that was emerging. ” The collective takes over: “We quickly considered referral to section C1.” Francois Molins “rally the troops”, activates the crisis unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Then the “I” comes back: “I arrive at the crime scenes, there is still no investigator, only first responders. I came across a brave sergeant from the 11th [arrondissement], who took off his bulletproof vest to put it on me, that gives an idea of the situation. “ He arrived around 10:30 p.m. at the Bataclan, where the intervention forces were positioned. Two hours later, at 00:20, the assault is given.
“When I enter the Bataclan, it’s horror, it’s Dantesque. I would never have imagined such a heavy toll.”
François Molins, magistratebefore the Special Assize Court of Paris, November 17, 2021
Emotion arises behind the cadenced story: “I will never forget the face of a lady, her hair squared, her head resting on a purse, with a phone ringing. I entered the Bataclan three times, I don’t know if I did. couldn’t believe it or refused to believe it. “
The investigation director then takes over the helm. François Molins unrolls the identification of the vehicles of the terrorists and their rental company, Salah Abdeslam, on the run. And the hunt for the two terrorists “always in nature”, Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Chakib Akrouh. THE’“amateurism” with which they managed the “after”, taking refuge in a bush in Aubervilliers then in an apartment in Saint-Denis, still leaves him speechless. On November 18, they were killed in the assault on the Raid.
In the “after” of the prosecutor, there is above all the painful identification of the 130 victims, for which the Paris prosecutor’s office is in charge. “There were errors despite the past retexes, admits François Molins. The victims are provided with a barcode bracelet and a medical card associated with this number. Given the multiple crime scenes, there were duplicates and blood-stained bracelets that were unreadable. I appreciate the unbearable nature of this type of error for the victims. “
At the Military School, designated late as a place of reception, “I saw many families completely disoriented. I remember having myself confirmed the deaths to two of them”, he continues. François Molins accepts his choice of having entrusted the management of the bodies to the only Medico-Legal Institute of Paris, so as not to “further complicate the journey of families”. But the high magistrate assures to have put a “maximum pressure” to his director to hold “delays” in forensic operations.
Chaptering his opening statement, François Molins comes to the “communication” post-terrorist attacks and the five press conferences that followed, between November 14, “the hardest because we were still in awe”, and on March 21, after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam and before the attacks in Brussels. “We said to ourselves that the judicial institution was the only one that could convey a credible and reliable word.”
“We quickly understood that communication made it possible to manage fears, to reassure our fellow citizens. I think with hindsight that this exercise is essential and I hope that it has contributed to strengthening the public’s confidence in justice”.
François Molins, magistratebefore the Special Assize Court of Paris, November 17, 2021
Today, the Attorney General does not answer journalists’ questions but those of the court. Was he warned of a threat to the Bataclan? “At no time are we in possession of any evidence that suggests that the Bataclan is a target.” Could the police intervention have been carried out more quickly? “We are not in the Wild West, where we walk into a saloon with doors that open.” Was the assault on Saint-Denis well directed? “This is an operation that has not seen the best of closures, but I will not criticize police officers who put their lives on the line.”
the “super proc”, as the media had nicknamed him, made no more and no less the same observation as many witnesses before him on this stand: “I’m not saying we did well. We did the best we could.”