The wound is still open in Collobrières. Ten years ago to the day, in the middle of the evening, two gendarmes from the Pierrefeu-du-Var brigade were killed in this peaceful Var village. Audrey Bertaut, 35, and Alicia Champlon, 28, died while responding to a burglary case.
Abdallah Boumezaar, who admitted the murders, shot the two young women with the service weapon of one of them. In 2015, the man was sentenced to life imprisonment. This affair had aroused immense emotion throughout the country. A national tribute was paid to them in particularin the presence of the Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls.
“Believe me, it totally changed our lives”
Ten years after the tragedy, the trauma is still present in Collobrières. “Believe me, it totally changed our life“says Rose, a resident.”That is to say, we imagined ourselves in a very serene, very quiet place and we woke up one morning with horror.
A horror that will remain forever etched in the memory of the Collobrièrois encountered in the town. “We can’t forget that, it’s impossible. They lost their lives, they left their families, their children… to this day, we still can’t get over it.“; “We always think about it and every time there are people passing by, we can’t help but talk to them about it.“; “These are things that don’t happen every day and that you only see on TV. Then when it happens at home, we are not ready in fact.
We don’t wait for the anniversary date to have a little thought for these two women
Michelle, another resident, assures that “it’s a disaster that will remain engraved in the hearts of everyone, we will never forget. We are a peaceful and quiet village, the gendarmes are part of the population, they were people we knew and that we rubbed shoulders with. Ten years later, they are still there. We don’t wait for the anniversary date to have a little thought for these two women who gave of their lives and who died too soon. It’s monstrous, there is no word to describe this act, attacking two female gendarmes is a disaster.”
For some, it took time to resume a completely normal life. Lydie lives just opposite the square where one of the gendarmes was killed. “We want to caulk ourselves more, to close our doors, we are more fearful of everyday life. Suddenly, we closed the door at the bottom while we did not close it before. After ten years, it passes, but when you hear a metallic noise it’s true that you say to yourself ‘hey what is that?’ ”
“I never imagined that we could experience this in our village”
Besides the residents, the mayor of Collobrières, Christine Amrane is still very marked. She was already aedile in 2012. “I am able to tell everything in detail until the next morning, it’s something that will never leave my memory for the good and simple reason that to see people die in service in your municipality, it was a huge shock for me but also for everyone. I never imagined that we could experience this in our village. We were all traumatized. There, celebrating ten years, I think of Audrey’s children. I say to myself that this guy took away ten years of their mother’s life, it’s unforgivable.”
Ten after a tribute will be paid to the two women this Friday in Provence. A ceremony is planned in Collobrières at 6 p.m., in the presence of elected officials, residents and representatives of the gendarmerie. A ceremony will also take place this Friday afternoon in Lançon-de-Provence. Alicia served for ten years in the autonomous territorial brigade of Lançon-de-Provence.