The Court of Cassation will render its decision on Wednesday, May 19, on the appeal of Hassan Diab, the only suspect found by the French courts for the attack on rue Copernic on October 3, 1980, who disputes his referral to the assizes.
In a judgment of January 27, the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal reversed, to the relief of the victims, the dismissal granted in 2018 to Hassan Diab.
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This 67-year-old Lebanese-Canadian academic, who has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, is suspected of having planted the bomb in front of a synagogue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the explosion of which left four dead and 46 injured.
Whatever the decision of the Court of Cassation, uncertainty would reign over the presence at a possible trial of the accused, returned to Canada after having benefited from the dismissal in 2018.
In this case where contradictory evidence has been fiercely debated for more than ten years, a new twist is possible: during a hearing on May 12, the Advocate General recommended that the judgment be quashed. She followed Me Paul Mathonnet, the lawyer on the advice of the professor, who had pointed out "
contradictions
" which would be present in the judgment as to the dates of supposed stay of Hassan Diab in Europe. He had also criticized the lack of response from the court to one of the main arguments of the defense, that of the supposed falsity of visas affixed to a passport, considered as a determining element.
One of the lawyers for the civil parties, Me Emmanuel Piwnica, had rejected this "
discussion of the relevance of the charges against the dismissed person
", which is not within the remit of the Court of Cassation which is the judge. of law and not of facts. “
I ask you not to deprive the victims of the trial to which they are entitled. It is also the interest of Hassan Diab to find himself before an assize court
"if he considers himself able to demonstrate his innocence, he argued. If the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation followed the advice of the Advocate General, it could request a review on the merits, which could lead to several months of proceedings again.