It was one of the first defining moments of the Nice bombing trial. The special assize court of Paris heard Tuesday, September 6, for the first time, the defendants on the facts, on the second day of the trial.
>> Trial of the July 14 attack in Nice: the key figures of this extraordinary hearing
Invited to speak for the first time on the facts, the seven defendants present – the last is on the run – all wanted to distance themselves from the murderous attack by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel who, driving a ram truck , had left 86 dead and more than 450 injured on the Promenade des Anglais on July 14, 2016. They all claim their innocence, and in particular the three main defendants, tried for “terrorist criminal association”.
>> PODCAST. “Attack in Nice, the children of July 14”
On July 14, 2016, a truck drove down the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people, including 15 minors. As the trial begins, David Di Giacomo went to meet those whose lives have been turned upside down by this attack. A podcast in five episodes to listen to on franceinfo and the Radio France app.
In a drawling voice, almost in a lament, Mohamed Ghraieb, who appears free under judicial supervision, unfolds his speech without taking a breath. “It’s unfair to take people’s lives like that. It’s not a man who did this, it’s a piece of garbage“, denounces the fifties who faces 20 years of criminal imprisonment.I never imagined that one day I would find myself in such a trap. He tricked me“, said the accused, speaking of Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian killed by the police on the evening of the attack, a major absentee from the trial, without ever mentioning his name.
A little before him in the box, the two other main defendants also proclaimed their innocence, in particular the youngest Ramzi Arefa, who was 21 at the time of the events. “As a Nicois, it is not easy to think that I am involved in such serious facts”he said.
>> “I’m no longer afraid of trucks, I’m no longer afraid of the dark”: six years after the Nice attack, the children of July 14 bruised but alive
At his side, in the box, Chorki Chafroud speaks in turn, translated by an interpreter: “Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was a friend… I can’t find the words to describe what he did. I don’t know what he had in his head. Today I’m scared“, says the accused. At the end of the hearing, the civil parties do not hide their annoyance: “They say they have been living an ordeal for six years. I can’t wait to explain mine to them“, concludes one of the victims.
Jacques, a civil party to this trial, left him during the hearing on Tuesday. “I do not support the testimony of the defendants. They’re trying to prove themselves innocent, they know it’s too big what happened, they say they’re sorry… But, they’re there, they say they’re going to defend oneself. But from the moment they participated, you had to think ahead. My daughter, I miss her. I will always miss her. She didn’t ask for anything“, he denounces.
The accused will no longer be invited to speak until early November. Five weeks will also be devoted to the testimony of the civil parties. 1,940 people had joined as civil parties on Tuesday in the middle of the afternoon (compared to 865 before the start of the trial), among whom around 300 wish to testify.