Everyone went there with their verse to make it crack.
The president first, getting her drunk with questions for almost three and a half hours.
The civil party lawyers then, then the two advocates general.
But Ayoub El Khazzani, tried since November 16 before the Special Assize Court in Paris, has held firm.
Asked all day, this Wednesday, the suspect of the aborted Thalys attack assured that he had only one objective on August 21, 2015: to shoot down American soldiers - the very ones who miraculously had it overpowered in the wagon - not a mass bombing.
And this despite the serious doubts that this version gives rise to.
Recruited by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 31-year-old Moroccan, briefly trained in the handling of weapons in Syria, asserts that the future coordinator of the attacks of November 13, 2015 with whom he traveled from Turkey to Europe had in fact assigned him two targets: " members of the European Commission and American soldiers ”.
"How many soldiers?
», Asks President Franck Zientara.
“Between 3 and 5”, answers Khazzani, white sports jacket on the shoulders.
"He is not very well informed Mr. Abaaoud: there were only 2", continues the judge who then questions him on the number of European officials to be killed: "He did not give me any details".
Often he does not "remember"
It is a constant with the accused: often he does not "remember" or explains that he did not ask questions.
"I was like hypnotized," he repeats over and over.
“You are a puppet.
In fact you would have done any operation, ”tackle Franck Zientara.
"Abaaoud knew how to influence me", agrees the young man who explains having hesitated to take action when he was in the Thalys toilets to prepare his arsenal (a Kalashnikov with nine magazines, i.e. 270 ammunition, an automatic pistol and a cutter).
But the president does not hide his annoyance or his perplexity.
And he insists.
"How to recognize them, these American soldiers?
"" I spotted them from the start, says the accused.
Abaaoud had explained to me that they were young, strong and who spoke English.
" " That's all ?
" " Yes.
"Well, it's not a lot", ironically the president who recalls that the interested parties wore neither uniform nor distinctive sign and that they had bought their tickets at the last moment.
"My goal was not to kill people who had no connection with the coalition, the European Commission or the United States", proclaims the one who presents himself as a repentant.
The court turns in circles
Lawyer for the three American nationals and the Franco-American professor seriously injured in the attack, Me Thibault de Montbrial shifts.
"These members of the commission or these soldiers, had he shown you the photos?"
" " No.
" " The names ?
" " No.
"" The seat numbers?
" " No more.
He told me to take a first class ticket.
"If no one had bothered you, would you have shot all the passengers in the car?"
», Concludes the lawyer.
"No," the accused promises.
When I saw that there were women and the elderly, I changed my mind.
I only wanted to kill the American soldiers.
The courtyard turns in circles.
It is the turn of one of the advocates general to take action.
The representative of the National Antiterrorist Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) is surprised that Ayoub El Khazzani was not, as he indicates, informed of the exact plan of the attack until the last moment: “It is surprising because Abaaoud did not not hide what he wants to do.
He gives interviews to ISIS's online magazines in which he explains that he wants to strike.
Does he tell everyone, but not you?
[…] Are you the one who spends the most time with Abaaoud in 2015 and you don't know anything about his intentions?
"
The accused nods.
“I don't know where you are going with this,” he comments.
"I'll tell you," snaps the attorney general.
I don't need your confession to call for your conviction.
What we need here is to measure your degree of sincerity today to know what will happen to you after this trial.
Whenever you are asked embarrassing questions about the facts, your background or your relationship with Abaaoud, my conviction is that you are anything but sincere.
"Ayoub El Khazzani is not dismantled:" It is your thought.
"
"I regret not having spoken, but I did not know what Abaaoud was going to do"
The Advocate General continues his offensive, recalls the shootings in the nightclubs of Orlando (United States) or Istanbul (Turkey) in which Daesh fighters committed massacres in closed places with an arsenal similar to his, but goes even further.
"During your police custody, you remain silent to the 290 questions that you are asked except to 4, those where you are asked if you have information on plans for attacks," said the magistrate.
There you say:
no I do not know.
Why?
"Because I didn't know," he swears.
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"But if you had revealed what all the European intelligence services did not know in August 2015, namely that Abldelhamid Abaaoud was no longer in Syria, Turkey or Greece, but in a hideout with accomplices and arms in Brussels, there would not have been 130 dead in Paris ”, develops the representative of the prosecution.
“Yes I regret not having spoken, but I did not know what he was going to do, insists Ayoub El Khazzani in his box.
In the apartment, I did not see any member of the November 13th.
I did not know that attacks were going to take place.
"
