The trial started almost a month ago to the day.
Up to eleven years in prison were requested against the seven relatives of Radouane Lakdim – this radical who murdered four people including gendarme Arnaud Beltrame – this Tuesday as part of the trial of the Trèbes and Carcassonne attacks which caused four deaths in 2018.
“For you, it’s free”
The pleadings of the lawyers of the civil parties began this Friday before the Special Assize Court of Paris.
First to plead, Me Jean Reinhart reconstructs the scene in the small supermarket in Trèbes (Aude) where Radouane Lakdim entered on March 23, 2018. “A gray-haired man calmly places his items on the conveyor belt when the terrorist places his weapon at the back of his head and said
hey, for you, it’s free
,” he recalls.
Also read “Hold on, my colonel”: at the trial of the Trèbes attack, the last moments of Gendarme Beltrame
Radouane Lakdim, a 25-year-old radicalized petty criminal from a city in Carcassonne (Aude), began his murderous journey at a homosexual meeting place, where he shot two men, killing one and seriously injuring the other.
Having left by car, he then shot six times at four police officers jogging, before arriving at the Super U in Trèbes.
There, the man who claimed to be from the Islamic State organization had shot dead an employee and a customer, before taking a cashier hostage.
Constable Arnaud Beltrame, who had taken his place, was mortally wounded.
The seven relatives of the attacker who were tried were not for “complicity” in these acts, the investigation having shown that Radouane Lakdim had acted alone.
Five are for terrorist conspiracy, two for related offenses.
“Radouane Lakdim never acted alone,” assures Me Reinhart, who represents several victims and relatives.
“He killed four men, coldly, without any hesitation (…) because he was supported, encouraged, or in any case not prohibited by others,” he continues, pointing to the responsibility of “those who allowed, through their actions or omissions, the worst to happen.”
Read alsoTrèbes attack: “He never spoke to me about a planned attack”, says the ex-partner of the terrorist
After him, Me Mathieu Montfort, the lawyer for Constable Beltrame's wife, tried to explain why she had not come to this hearing, where her husband's name took up so much space.
“For Marielle it is difficult to be there,” he said, “when you have the impression of being thrown into the past, that you have the feeling of taking up too much space, of obscuring the suffering of others victims ".
Me Noémie Amram-Bibas, the lawyer for the four targeted police officers, evokes the sobriety of their statements – “professional distortion” – they who had all believed that Radouane Lakdim “was going to get out of his car to finish them off”.
The seriously injured police officer and his wife came every day during the month-long hearing.
“They deplore the shaky explanations and the arrogant silences of some, but they have come to understand.”