The trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 will be held next year in the former courthouse in Paris, on the Ile de la Cite. During the solemn re-entry hearing of the Court of Appeal on January 13, its first president, Jean-Michel Hayat, announced that the hearing should begin in January 2021. The debates are scheduled to last six months, with a verdict expected in mid-July 2021.
We needed a room commensurate with this extraordinary trial which should include 20 accused, 1,700 civil parties, dozens of lawyers and hundreds of international journalists. The immense hall of lost steps of the old courthouse, in the air of a train station hall, will be completely reconfigured and a specific structure built within it.
The journey of accused prisoners in the front line
The work, which begins this Wednesday, will continue for a year, which will affect the hearings of the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation, two institutions housed in the old palace. They are funded by the Ministry of Justice while the Public Agency for Justice Real Estate (Apij) will be responsible for the construction and development project. The budget is not yet final, as all the companies awarded have not yet been chosen. In any case, the project has mobilized the ministry for many months, as well as the Paris Court of Appeal.
For security reasons, the path of the ten accused in prison, including the last living member of Daesh "commandos", Salah Abdeslam, has been particularly studied. The few people who had access to the model of this future sitting room, known as the “grand trials”, were not allowed to photograph it. We only know that the court will sit at the end, on the boulevard du Palais side.
Video transmission of the trial for the victims
The soil and pillar surveys supporting the vaults have already been launched. The first removal of slabs must begin this Wednesday. Indeed, the weight of such a structure must be carefully evaluated: the Conciergerie, a historic prison where Marie-Antoinette was held, is located in the basement, directly above the hall of the lost steps.
To allow all victims who do not wish to travel to follow the hearings, the Chancellery has planned to retransmit the proceedings via an individual and secure connection thanks to a specific code. However, in France, the recording of sound or image in a court or an assize court is prohibited, recording is only authorized for historical trials. This video transmission of the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015, the subject of long debates in the judiciary and revealed by RTL, will therefore go through a modification of the current article of the 1881 press law. In order to limit the risks of wild recording and dissemination, the judicial services are considering a marking process.
Procedurally, the National Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) issued its indictment on November 21, 2019. The order to indict the examining magistrates is imminent.
