After more than a year of work, the gigantic courtroom built especially to accommodate the
"
extraordinary
"
trial
of the attacks of November 13, 2015 is ready, AFP learned this Saturday, June 5 from the Court of Appeal. from Paris.
Read also: A spectacular room for the trial of the November 2015 attacks
AFP was able to visit the huge room built from scratch and placed in the room of the lost steps of the historic courthouse in Paris, on the Ile de la Cité.
It will then be able to house other major trials, but is intended to be deconstructed in a few years.
It is there that from September 8, the 14 defendants present, including Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the commandos who struck Paris and Saint-Denis and left 131 dead and hundreds wounded, will be tried under very close surveillance. on the bar terraces, at the Bataclan, and at the Stade de France.
The trial is expected to last around eight months.
550 spaces
The room is 45 meters long and 15 meters wide.
In front of the magistrates of the special assize court, desks furnished with long microphones will allow 24 defense lawyers on one side, 42 of the civil party opposite, to sit down.
Read also: Six months before the November 13 trial, the key figures of this historic hearing
The 11 defendants who appear detained will take their places in a single long glass box, largely surrounded by gendarmes.
The three who appear free will be seated on chairs or folding seats in front of them.
In front of them, the three magistrates of the national anti-terrorism prosecution (Pnat).
Then, in the length of the room facing the courtyard, dozens of rows of brand new light wood benches were installed along a central corridor, to accommodate the rest of the more than 300 lawyers expected, as well as civil parties and journalists.
In total, the room can accommodate 550 people.
Civil parties, journalists and the public will also be able to follow the proceedings from around fifteen broadcast rooms available in the palace.
Read also: Attacks of November 13: the trial scheduled for September 8, 2021 to the end of March 2022
In the very modern room, the columns of the historic courthouse are visible, as well as statues that have not been moved, and appear behind glass screens. A clock was hung on the wall. All that remains is to install, above the court, the traditional scales of justice which will watch over the debates.
