the terrorist’s journey reconstituted in 3D for the trial, a first for an attack

In the absence of usable video surveillance images, the crime scene, in the Strasbourg Christmas market, was reconstructed in 3D. The technique is unprecedented in a terrorism trial.

At the trial of the Strasbourg Christmas market attack in December 2018, the specially constituted Court broadcast, on Wednesday March 6, a 3D video of the crime scene produced by the scientific police. This is the first time that this 3D technique has been used for an attack.

This video was made at the request of the investigating judge to understand the murderous epic of the terrorist Chérif Chekatt in the city center of Strasbourg, that evening from 7:48 p.m. to 7:58 p.m. Ten minutes of terror of which the investigators have no image: neither surveillance video nor amateur video. So we had to imagine them. On the stand, the brigadier-chief of the scientific police explains that he relied on a scenario provided by the Sdat, the anti-terrorist sub-directorate, which led the investigation and on the testimonies of the victims.

A jarring video of survivors’ memories

This video lasts ten minutes, in real time. It was therefore viewed at the hearing. But the survivors consider it discordant with their memories. Quite simply because they miss the crowds, which were very numerous that evening, according to some photos around the Christmas market chalets.

It is a choice by the expert to, he says, better see the interactions with the victims. So we follow the terrorist through the deserted streets of the city center. It’s night. 3D starts on rue des Orfèvres. Chérif Chekatt is in red. He kills his first two victims, Italian and Polish. Drawn in blue, they turn gray when touched.

In all, he will walk a kilometer: reach the rue des Grandes Arcades where, this time, he kills an Afghan tourist. Then a French father leaving a restaurant, rue du Saumon. Before ending his macabre journey near the Saint-Martin bridge where he murders a Thai tourist, before boarding a taxi and fleeing.

A very disappointing video considers Mostafa Salahne, civil party in the trial: “It’s far from reality, it’s far from what happened that evening. Beyond the eleven seriously injured and the five deceased, there are thousands of victims. We see it on video surveillance images: we were really in the peak at this time, with a lot of people in the streets of Strasbourg. There, it’s completely empty. It was better not to broadcast these 3D images.” The trial continues on Thursday March 7, with the hearings of the terrorist’s relatives.