new suspension of one week after contamination with Covid-19 of an accused

The coronavirus continues to disrupt justice. The trial of the November 13 attacks, open for almost eight months and already interrupted several times because of Covid-19, was again suspended on Friday May 6 for a week due to a new case of contamination of the one of the defendants. “An accused is in turn affected by the Covid. In the current state of the procedure, it is not possible to sit”, explained the president. “Dura lex, sed lex (“the law is tough, but it’s the law”, editor’s note)”he commented.

“We will not be able to hold this hearing today, nor next week”, announced the president of the special assize court of Paris, Jean-Louis Périès, Friday at the resumption of the hearing. This will resume “normally on May 17 at 12:30 p.m.”he announced.

Farid Kharkhach, one of 11 defendants appearing in custody at the trial, tested positive after showing symptoms of Covid-19 in court on Thursday. The 39-year-old Belgian-Moroccan is “confused” for the civil parties who were to testify, assured one of his lawyers, Fanny Vial.

This new interruption comes on the third day of a new series of hearings of some 90 civil parties, survivors of the jihadist attacks which left 130 dead in Paris and Saint-Denis or bereaved relatives of the victims.

The court would thus normally hear, next Monday and Tuesday, the members of the American group Eagles of Death Metal, whose concert at the Bataclan on the evening of November 13, 2015 had been abruptly interrupted by Kalashnikov fire. Their hearings are postponed to a later date.