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The trial for the assassination of Father Hamel opened on Monday February 14 in Paris. The two perpetrators of the priest’s murder had been shot dead by the police, but three men around them are on trial for “terrorist criminal association”. They face 30 years in prison.
At 92, Guy Coponetsurvivor of the attack on the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, in July 2016, had been stabbed by the assassins of Father Hamel, and left for dead. He wishes today, by attending the hearing, to understand and try to forgive. “That those who are responsible, if they can ask forgiveness from everyone they have hurt, I think we will have won our day”confides the latter.
Same humility with Roseline Hamel, Father Jacques Hamel’s sister. “I don’t expect excuses, if they say a few words they will be wholeheartedly accepted”she said. On July 26, 2016, two 19-year-old terrorists burst into a church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray (Seine Maritime)in full mass. They slaughtered Father Hamel there, before being shot by the special forces. The other major absentee from the trial is the jihadist Rachid Kassimthe alleged instigator of the attack, reported missing in Iraq. The alleged accomplices of the assailants contest their participation in the attack.