the key figures of this exceptional audience

A trial to rebuild. On July 14, 2016, a terrorist drove a 19-tonne truck into the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. A total of 86 people lost their lives and more than 450 others were injured in this attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, the deadliest committed on French soil after those of November 13, 2015 against the Stade de France, the Bataclan and the Parisian terraces.

>> Trial of the Nice attack: who are the eight defendants referred to the special assize court of Paris?

In the absence of the assailant, killed by the police on the evening of the attack, eight people of Franco-Tunisian, Tunisian or Albanian nationality, including a woman, appeared before the Special Assize Court of Paris, in the room specially built for the trial of 13-November in the courthouse of the Ile de la Cité. Three are tried for terrorist criminal association and five for having provided weapons to the assailant, who died on the evening of the incident. As for the Paris attacks, this hearing is in line with the extraordinary trials: nearly a thousand civil parties, 133 lawyers, more than 100 accredited media.

In this room, ten cameras will make it possible to record the debates for the archives, but also to broadcast them simultaneously in two other Parisian rooms, as well as in Nice. The Palais des Congrès – Nice Acropolis will then be able to accommodate up to 700 people to follow the debates from a distance. Also in Nice, the victims will also be able to testify from the courthouse, this time, and in particular the children, many of whom were affected by the attack.

Finally, as for the trial of the attacks of November 13, a web radio will be set up for the civil parties who cannot attend the hearing. It will be translated into English for the first time, and accessible from abroad. This hearing is scheduled to last three and a half months, until mid-December 2022.