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A witness in court: The "Charlie Hebdo" trial is preoccupying the French
Photo: BENOIT PEYRUCQ / AFP
The glass building of the new Paris Justice Palace in the north of the city is widely guarded by police officers, and metal fences have been erected.
Due to the corona, only every second seat in the courtroom is occupied.
The deeds this week is about: the terrorist attacks on the editors of the satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo", the kosher supermarket "Hyper Cacher" and the murder of the police in Montrouge.
A total of 17 people died in the attacks in January 2015.
With the interrogation of the defendants, the historic trial has reached a crucial moment this week.
Behind glass, guarded by the police, it is Willy Prévost's turn first.
The 34-year-old strong 1.95 meter tall man is bald, he wears a gray sports jacket and speaks only tentatively when the court president Régis de Jorna questions him.
Prévost grew up with Amédy Coulibaly in the Paris suburb of Grigny and was his henchman for years.
He is said to have bought a car and weapons for him.
In the days after the attack on "Charlie Hebdo", Coulibaly shot and killed a policewoman in the south of Paris and killed four hostages in the "Hyper Cacher" in the east of the capital before he himself was shot while storming the building.
"I got the material, but I didn't know anything about the attacks in Montrouge or at Hyper Cacher," says Prévost;
When he procured the car and the murder weapon, he thought of another illegal act, such as a robbery.
He emphasizes that he has never become a Muslim - and says that when he found out about the attacks on television he was "shocked".
He also knew nothing about the radicalization of Coulibaly.
And why did he let Coulibaly use him?
"I was scared of him," he says today.
Prévost tells of a money debt in connection with a drug trade with which Coulibaly put him under pressure and why he beat him up.
Prévost faces 20 years in prison for membership in a terrorist group.
14 people are accused of having helped with the preparation.
Three defendants have not yet been caught.
The actual three perpetrators were shot.
Besides Coulibaly, the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi.
The questioning in the courtroom is mainly about whether the defendants knew about the terrorist plans.
Everything revolves around the personality of the accused and their religious attitude - because this could have motivated them to help.
Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, lawyer for the main defendant Ali Riza Polat, the alleged right-hand man of Coulibaly, cited the lack of "certainties" in the trial file several times.
The process has been running since September 2nd.
The verdict is expected to fall on November 10th.
At the beginning, 200 civil plaintiffs and experts were called.
The brutality of the attacks was repeatedly made clear in the descriptions of the victims and their families.
A film about the Charlie Hebdo shooting was shown and the slaughter was explained by an investigator.
Bloody bodies can be seen in this film, some lying on their backs, other images show the faces.
The horror of the act shocked the audience and some plaintiffs left the room.
Caty Richard, attorney for the plaintiffs, emphasized: "The pictures had to be shown in court. We saw war machines."
The survivors also had their say, some of whom have been disabled since the attack.
It was also about the freedom of the press and the "Charlie Hebdo" caricatures that led to the attacks.
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Came in as a last-minute witness: Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris
Photo: BENOIT PEYRUCQ / AFP
The appearance of a witness caused incomprehension among the defense lawyers and also among some of the plaintiffs' lawyers.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, in office since 2014, was added as a last-minute witness at the request of some plaintiffs.
Most of the defendants' lawyers left the room in protest, thinking it was a show.
You said that the former President François Hollande could have been questioned.
Hidalgo told how she experienced the day of the attacks at "Charlie Hebdo" at a New Year ceremony in the town hall.
She was there quickly and was then in constant contact with the injured and the families of the victims.
Their appearance showed: It's not just about condemning terrorism.
The process should also work through the acts for the victims.
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