Trauma of Paris: Terrorist Attack Trial launched in 2015

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Police officers secure the start of the trial in Paris

Photo: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / EPA

The Paris attacks of November 13, 2015 deeply traumatized France - the largest trial in the country's history is now set to clarify the background to the attacks, which left 130 dead and 350 injured.

Twenty suspects are charged, including Salah Abdeslam, who has already been convicted in Belgium and is considered one of the main perpetrators and the only survivor of the terrorist squad.

Abdeslam appeared with a beard, black T-shirt and black mouth and nose mask at the start of the process, as a correspondent for the AFP news agency reported.

"There is no god but Allah" were Abdeslam's first words in the process.

"I gave up every profession in order to become a fighter for the 'Islamic State'," said Salah Abdeslam when the presiding judge asked about his profession.

The 31-year-old Franco-Moroccan is said to have brought three of the attackers to the football stadium and wore an explosive belt himself.

The terrorists shot 130 people

13 other defendants are said to have been alleged supporters.

Six other defendants are on trial in absentia.

Five of them are believed to have died in Syria in the meantime.

One is imprisoned in Turkey on terrorist charges.

In the series of attacks on November 13, 2015, extremists shot 130 people in the “Bataclan” concert hall as well as in bars and restaurants.

There were 350 injured.

At the Stade de France, three suicide bombers blew themselves up during an international soccer match between Germany and France.

The terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) claimed the attacks for themselves.

Almost 1,000 police officers were mobilized in Paris to start the trial.

Special armed forces secured the spacious, cordoned off Palace of Justice, in which a specially assembled jury negotiates in a specially furnished room.

This offers 550 seats, and screens ensure that the negotiation is broadcast in all areas of the hall.

Psychological support is available for relatives and those affected during the entire process.

The process is scheduled to run until May 2022.

Most of the defendants face life or 20 years imprisonment.

A judgment is not expected until May 2022 at the earliest

According to the public prosecutor's office, there are 1,765 co-plaintiffs.

At the start of the process, these should all be called up by name.

Only later did the court want to deal more broadly with the content of the allegations, which are based on 500 files with the results of the investigation.

Hundreds of witnesses are to be heard, in addition to investigators from France and Belgium, the then French President François Hollande.

Given the dramatic extent of the night of terrorism, the victims and their relatives are given a space that is appropriate: over a period of five weeks, around 300 of them are supposed to describe their experiences.

"The whole world is watching us," said France's Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti to French TV channels.

The events were etched deep into the collective memory, he added.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has called on the prefects of Paris and other places to be more vigilant.

He recalled that there had been further attacks during the trial of the attack on the editorial staff of the satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo".

Less than a year ago, the teacher Samuel Paty was killed by an Islamist.

The trial is to be filmed for posterity.

A judgment is not expected until May 2022 at the earliest.

anr / AFP / dpa