Epilogue of the trial of the attack in Nice: the special assize court of Paris ruled admissible this Friday, May 26, most of the constitutions of civil parties who followed the attack with the truck-ramming, opening the way to possible compensation for the victims.
On the evening of July 14, 2016, while 25,000 people were gathered on the Promenade des Anglais, Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel deliberately and speeded into the crowd with a 19-ton truck. He killed 86 people, injured more than 400 and traumatized several thousand, before being shot dead by the police.
'Traumatized'
On December 13, sentences ranging from two to eighteen years in prison were handed down to eight people. The two main accused, Chokri Chafroud and Mohamed Ghraieb, convicted of terrorist criminal association, immediately announced an appeal. Taking into account civil interests after criminal convictions, the Special Assize Court examined 2600 civil party constitutions and ruled that only 337 were inadmissible.
Among the cases rejected by the court are those of first responders (police, firefighters, rescuers ...) "arrived at the scene after the end of the criminal action". "First responders can be declared admissible as long as they justify that they were before their intervention in the perimeter of exposure to the risk, real or supposed," said the court. "On the other hand, those who were not on duty and who were called to the scene to participate in covering the bodies, caring for the wounded or preserving the crime scene, are not admissible in their constitution of civil party since they arrived on the scene after the end of the criminal action", ruled the Court, thus complying with the latest judgments of the Court of Cassation on the admissibility of civil parties in terrorism matters. "It is in no way indisputable that these first responders may have been durably and deeply marked or even traumatized by the exceptionally terrible scenes they witnessed," the court said.
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The court also rejected the admissibility of "all persons who waited for the hearing to come forward for the first time as a civil party and who were satisfied with a simple certificate and sometimes a simple medical certificate not informed". Similarly, the court excluded "all persons who were outside the perimeter (of the attack) even if some may have been victims of crowd movements or panic caused by baseless rumors and reckless risk-taking".
Admissibility of "unborn children"
The admissibility of civil actions opens the way to possible compensation for the damage suffered. Being recognized as a civil party is also highly symbolic for many people, traumatized by the attack and who intend to be recognized as victims. Conversely, being deprived of the status of civil party does not qualify for any reparations before the Jurisdiction for the Compensation of Victims of Acts of Terrorism (Jivat). "A decision of inadmissibility does not mean that the person to whom it applies has not suffered the consequences of the attack," the court said in its judgment.
Against the advice of the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat), the court widened the perimeter of exposure to danger by including people who were on the terrace of restaurants on the north road of the Promenade des Anglais and those who were on the beaches in the entirely pedestrian perimeter on the evening of the festivities. "Persons inside restaurants and commercial establishments during the criminal action who cannot legitimately consider themselves exposed to danger will not be declared admissible," the court said. The "children in gestation" at the time of the attack may be declared admissible in their constitution of civil party "as soon as they justify a particular prejudice resulting from the attack on their parents", also decided the court. Finally, the civil party constitutions of the associations for the defence of victims (Fenvac, AFVT, Association Promenade des Anges, Mémorial des Anges, La voix des enfants and Life for Nice) were declared admissible.
