Still a lot of emotion this Wednesday morning at the trial of the attack in Saint Etienne du Rouvray. As is customary, the three defendants had the floor last before the court left to deliberate. Presented as close to the two assailants on the ideological or family level, Yassine Sebaihia, Farid Khelil and Jean Philippe Steven Jean Louis have been on trial for three and a half weeks for criminal terrorist association. They keep repeating that they were not aware of this plan to attack a church, which cost the life of Father Hamel.
As usual, Yassine Sebaihia is the least talkative. He, who came from Toulouse to Saint-Etienne the day before the attack, is content to say that he never wanted to participate in the attack. And that he is deeply saddened by what happened.
As usual, Farid Khelil is the most talkative. The cousin of Abdel Malik Petitjean, one of Father Hamel’s killers, addresses the sister of the murdered priest: “I’m really trying to be a better man, ma’am”. And he adds: “I carry my cross, I will carry it all my life”. Roseline Hamel has tears in her eyes.
Farid Khelil also addresses Anne Coponet, the daughter of the parishioner seriously injured in the church. She brought him a handkerchief after his 8 hour interrogation last week: “Thank you for this gesture, you give me hope.” And he continues, in tears: “I will do everything to be a good father, a good citizen. I am a child of France, my 6 years in prison were not in vain. Believe in me, Madame”. Anne Coponet nods. Farid Khelil finally speaks to the court, asking “a second chance”.
The most surprising thing is Jean Philippe Steven Jean Louis, the Islamic State propagandist who wanted to go to Syria with Petitjean. The accused shows a compassion, which we did not see in him at the beginning of the trial. To Roseline Hamel and the Coponet family, he says: “For everything you have done, you have told us, you have kept within you, I ask your forgiveness and I say thank you”. To the judges now, he admits that he still has to move forward psychologically: “As my lawyer says, I’m not a finished person and it’s not going to happen overnight, I know that.”
The civil parties leave the courtroom filled with hope, the hope that they themselves carry, explains Angelique Deleporte, Roseline Hamel’s daughter: “This hope, this humanity that we gave them without calculation, is because we believe in it. It is not simple but it is fundamental. I’m quite happy and I especially hope that it will carry them. Now, in terms of their sincerity, I don’t even want to ask myself the question. I don’t know, but it belongs to them.”
The verdict is expected on Wednesday.