A few weeks after the conclusion of the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015, which will have lasted ten months, it is another river trial for terrorism which opens from Monday September 5 (and until November 15): that of the July 14 attack in Nice, in 2016, during which 86 people, including ten children and teenagers, were killed on the famous Promenade des Anglais.
That evening, 25 000 Nice people and tourists had come to admire the fireworks on the promenade when Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, driving a 19-tonne truck, drove into the crowd, perpetrating a massacre. No less than 19 different nationalities have been identified among the victims. In total, 865 people or associations, directly or indirectly affected by the attack, have joined as civil parties. A relatively low figure compared to the 2 457 victims recognized by the Guarantee Fund for victims of acts of terrorism and other offenses (FGTI).
The members of the 14-7 lawyers collective, which brings together around forty lawyers from the Côte d’Azur, have nevertheless spared no effort to convince their clients to testify during the trial. From January to July, Olivia Chalus-Pénochet, the group’s coordinator, used “pedagogy” with the families she accompanies. “One after the other, we explained to them that this trial was mainly for them and that no one knows what they have been through.”
“They were told, ‘If you don’t tell your story, it will crumble to dust’.”
Olivia Chalus-Pénochet, lawyer for victims of the attackat franceinfo
But to testify, you have to agree to plunge back into horror and pain. Recover “head in”, as Laura says. Despite her reluctance, this thirty-year-old, who was on the walk with her 4-year-old daughter and a half years, decided to tell her story in front of the special assize court of Paris. “The trial will stir up horror but everyone needs to know what happened”she explains. “I do it for my daughter too, because it’s part of her story.”
Marc, a volunteer firefighter, resolved to testify at the beginning of June. He is one of the first to have rescued the injured, in particular taking care of a young Russian tourist, seriously affected, and an American in the leg shredded that night. The young woman did not survive. For a long time, this 50-year-old struggled to shape the testimony he will deliver at the helm. Because each victim must write his text and prepare to read it in front of the court. When we met him, Marc was looking for help to tell his story. “I make a lot of mistakes. I don’t write French well, I’m very bad”he confided, a little embarrassed.
“This attack has affected an extremely popular population, simple people, who are constantly looking for their words”, explains his lawyer, Olivia Chalus-Pénochet. Words, some don’t have any more and will never be able to describe what they have experienced. “I have clients who can’t even talk about it. I have one who sank into alcoholism after seeing dozens of dismembered bodies… He becomes mute as soon as you have to start the evening of July 14”.
This unspeakable pain, with which the lawyer is confronted daily, reminds her of a sentence from Seneca, taken from the consolations : “The magnitude of uncommon pain always inevitably prevents choice of words because often it does not even let the sound of the voice through.”
Faced with the suffering of those who were physically affected during the attack, other victims believe they came out of it well and do not wish to be part of the trial. What they experienced would not be serious enough, explains Nice lawyer Sophie Hebert-Marchal, who represents 70 civil parties.
“Many develop impostor syndrome and do not feel entitled to initiate compensation claims. Especially psychological victims, who are not bereaved or physically injured. They censor themselves.”
Sophie Hebert-Marchal, lawyer for victims of the attackat franceinfo
Yet the trauma experienced by the 25 000 people present on the Promenade des Anglais on July 14, 2016 could have longer-term consequences, underlines Anne Murris, president of the Memorial of Angels association. It is necessary, according to her, to anticipate them now. “The effects of post-traumatic shock can occur 10 or 15 years later. We do not know how these people will have somatized. During their professional life, they may need to be recognized as disabled or in long illness and will have no proof showing that they were victims of this attack”insists this bereaved mother, who lost her daughter during the attack.
Other hindrance : the majority of the victims live in the south of France while the trial will take place in Paris. “Financially, it crystallizes the difficulties”, regrets Olivia Chalus-Pénochet. However, travel will be reimbursed up to the expense and a flat rate is provided for hotel and meals. But participants must advance the costs. And refunds only occur “several months later”underlines Jean-Claude Hubler, president of the association of victims Life for Nice. “Many of my clients earn less than 2 000 euros per month. It is not easy for them to advance large sums”points out Olivia Chalus-Pénochet, who would have preferred that this trial be held in Nice. “It’s an injustice, a double penalty”she breathes.
Those who will not be able to reach the capital will still be able to follow the trial broadcast at the Nice Acropolis convention center and via the web radio, set up during the trial of the November 13 attacks. But the victims’ lawyers fear the symbolism of empty benches on the civil party side.
“Not coming to the trial is saying that what happened is not serious and it would be doing the prosecution a service”, laments Anne Murris. Like many civil parties, she is campaigning for the maximum sentence to be imposed on the eight defendants, members of the terrorist’s entourage or intermediaries involved in the trafficking of arms intended for him.
Three of them – Chokri Chafroud, Ramzi Arefa and Mohamed Ghraieb – cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment since they are being tried for “criminal terrorist association” and not for “complicity” in the assassinations committed by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel . For the five other defendants, involved in the arms circuit, the investigations could not demonstrate that they had been aware of the planned attack.
Sophie Hebert-Marchal has already prepared her clients for the possibility of light sentences, even acquittals. “It’s very difficult for some of them to hear. But we can’t have the same methods as the terrorists. We need a fair sentence. This trial must above all bring out the truth.” The prospect of light sentences contributes, according to Anne Murris, to “to discourage” many victims. Especially since, for some, the fight does not concern the terrorist attack in itself anyway, but the security measures taken on the evening of the national holiday.
In 2017, a complaint was filed by 150 families, leading to the opening of an investigation, still ongoing, to determine whether the security devices were up to par on July 14, 2016. The complainants notably blame the lack of concrete blocks, which could have impeded the course of the truck on the Promenade des Anglais. Since then, the investigation has stalled, and the complainants have the feeling of being taken on a boat.
“The trial will be polluted by this parallel procedure. We would have liked it to be completed before we were interested in the attack itself. If security had been sufficient, there would have been no attack.”
Jean-Claude Hubler, president of the Life for Nice associationat franceinfo
A number of victims plan to bring up the subject, despite warnings from their lawyers. “We warned them that this was not the right place, but we cannot censor their testimonies. They are free to speak”recalls Olivia Chalus-Pénochet.
This quest for truth is at the heart of concerns. But many victims have also agreed to testify to express their bitterness. “The fact of reopening traffic on the ‘Prom’ two days after the attack was very shocking. Repeating the July 14 festivities as if nothing had happened, instead of transforming this day into a tribute to the victims, also been very badly lived. All that, they will come to say it”predicts the lawyer.