A day like February alone offers: cold and endless. Glacial even when the president responsible for presiding over the trial of Redoine Faïd underlines the absence of the "king of the beautiful" in the box of the accused by "noting that Mr. Faïd is not there ... Unless he has escaped . "A misplaced humor," recognizes Sylvie Karas in the face of the nervousness of Frank Berton, the lawyer for Redoine Faïd, known for his two incredible escapes in 2013 and 2018, with explosives and then by helicopter.
This time, no escape for the Creillois who was to be tried in the company of three other men for the robbery of an armored van in Pas-de-Calais in 2011. Redoine Faïd, the star guest of this trial under very high surveillance, has indeed decided to fail the justice system. The robber started a hunger and thirst strike on February 19 making his state of health "incompatible with his appearance before an assize court", according to a doctor who examined him on Wednesday evening. The Assize Court of Pas-de-Calais however decided, late this Thursday evening, to continue the trial. Without Redoine Faïd.
Faïd on hunger strike
A decision difficult to understand for Me Yasmina Belmokhtar, Hugues Vigier and Frank Berton, the lawyers of the famous robber. Upon their arrival at the courthouse of Saint-Omer around 12 noon, after having successfully passed the various gendarmerie checks and the meticulous search at the entrance to the court, the penalists denounced the conditions of detention of Redoine Faïd, who allegedly pushed the gangster to the extreme solution: a hunger and thirst strike.
Since the end of his run in October 2018, Redoine Faïd has been imprisoned in Vendin-le-Vieil "in inhuman conditions," denounces Frank Berton. Faïd has no blood on his hands and I have assisted men accused of much more serious things (Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the attacks of November 13, 2015, Editor's note) who are not being held in such strict conditions. Redoine Faïd has the right to be able to defend herself. "However, dehydrated, suffering from kidney problems, Faïd, who met several times with his lawyers this Thursday" is today very weak, assures Me Yasmina Belmokhtar. Redoine Faïd struggles to express herself and is clearly unable to defend herself in court. "
A point generally supported by the defense lawyers, who all considered that it was desirable, for the logic of the debates, that Redoine Faïd, presented as the thinking head of this robbery at 2 M €, be present and in a state of speak out. An argument also brandished by certain civil parties. In this concert in favor of a postponement, only the Advocate General, Jean-Francis Creon, delivered a dissonant voice, ensuring that "Redoine Faïd is responsible for his condition, it was he who decided this hunger strike ". As for the conditions of detention of the accused, they would be, according to him, only “measures adapted to the personality of Redoine Faïd. "
A point of view which seems to have convinced Sylvie Karas who therefore decided to continue the trial without Redoine Faïd after a very long deliberation. "He expressed his refusal to participate in the judicial process," detailed the president. He could start again and offer the possibility to other accused, through a hunger strike, to master a legal procedure. "Unhappy with this decision, believing that he could not" defend an absent person "and" have the feeling that we don't care about the man, what matters is to make Redoine Faïd pay, to send him to oblivion ", the Creillois lawyers have all left the assize court. Me Belmokhtar has also refused to be committed automatically despite threats of prosecution to which she is exposed. At 11 p.m., in the cold Pas-de-Calais, the gendarmes, deployed massively, finally left Saint-Omer. The jurors were still waiting to be drawn to judge, until March 18, their absent mark.
