The specially composed Paris Assize Court still had to issue a decision at the end of the trial of the Islamist attacks of November 13, 2015, which caused the death of 130 people.
She delivered her civil judgment on Tuesday.
This component primarily concerns the civil parties: it sets the amount of damages that the convicted will have to pay to the victims.
But in the case of the “V13” trial, the judgment was particularly awaited, because it had to decide on thorny points of law, starting with the admissibility of several civil parties who sometimes appeared at the hearing.
In total, nearly 3,000 people claimed the status of victim of the attacks and compensation.
Convicts
“held to repair the damage”
According to a press release, the court, unsurprisingly,
"declared admissible the civil action of the natural persons, direct or indirect victims (relatives of the direct victims who died or were injured) of the acts committed on November 13 and 18, 2015 as well as the persons physical justifying an immediate intervention on the scene of the facts while the criminal action was still in progress”
.
The date of November 18 corresponds to the assault given by the Raid to a building in Saint-Denis, rue du Corbillon, in which were entrenched the leader of the commandos, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, had an accomplice in the terrace killings, Chakib Akrouh.
The convicts are also
"obligated to repair the damage"
considerable inflicted by the shootings of the police and the explosion of the booby-trapped vest of one of the terrorists.
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On the other hand, the court excluded from the list of official victims of the November 13 massacres those whom the prosecution had qualified as
“unfortunate witnesses”
and who represent a tiny minority.
The judges
“considered that while the many people in the vicinity of the scene of the events may have suffered a strong psychological impact
(…)
they did not necessarily personally suffer damage directly caused by the offences”
.
In fact, during the hearing, certain civil party applications seemed to be more a matter of opportunism than of deep pain.
If it retains, against the opinion of the national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office, the constitution of the companies which exploit the Bataclan, the court rejects, on the other hand, those of the cities of Saint-Denis (the scene of the fatal attacks near the Stade de France then of the events rue du Corbillon) and Paris, where 129 people fell under the bullets of Daesh terrorists.
For justice, it was France through the French state that was targeted, not the municipalities chosen by the general staff of the Islamic State.
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Finally, the court declares itself
“incompetent to rule on the claims for compensation made by certain civil parties declared admissible”
and refers the parties concerned to the Jurisdiction for Compensation of Victims of Acts of Terrorism (Jivat).
Each of the court's decisions is likely to be challenged on appeal.