At the trial of the attack of October 3, 1980 against the synagogue on rue Copernic, six civil parties testified Thursday, April 13, still before an empty box since the only defendant, the Lebanese-Canadian Hassan Diab, remained in Ottawa. After them, Judge Jean-Marc Herbaut, coordinator of the anti-terrorist unit, was heard. It was he, with his colleague Richard Flotzer, who dismissed the case in 2018, considering that the charges against Hassan Diab were not “ sufficiently convincing “. A dismissal reversed in 2021.
transcript of hearing, Laura Martel
For the civil parties, Jean-Marc Herbaut, it was the judge who almost deprived them of a trial. But the seasoned and renowned anti-terrorist magistrate explains that he only ” took responsibility by ordering the dismissal. “ We realized that we did not know who the bomber was. There are elements against Hassan Diab, but too tenuous, and counterbalanced by others. »
And the magistrate to detail at length the reasons for his decision. His cautious approach to intelligence making Hassan Diab, the bomber: ” The information is essential to raise leads but cannot be used as evidence “, he underlines.
” I have no certainty about how Hassan Diab’s passport was used and by whom added the magistrate, about one of the rare material elements: the passport that Hassan Diab claims to have lost and which was found in 1981 in the hands of a man presented as a member of the dissident branch of the PFLP put in cause in the attack.
To graphological expertise, both incriminating and exculpatory, he does not bring, ” by experiment », « no credit he says. As for the alibi presented by the accused, who affirms that he was taking university exams in Lebanon at the time of the attack, testimonies which he considers ” credible » « come to reinforce it and counterbalance the dependent elements “, he notes.
As much ” doubts “Incompatible with a reference to the assizes for the magistrate, who denies having been” lax ” Or “ influenced by the Palestinian cause “: ” For me, a terrorist is a terrorist “, asserts Jean-Marc Herbaut, who has only one regret: not having heard the victims, “ overwhelmed » that he was by the wave of attacks that affected France between 2015 and 2018.
But the judge assures him: even at that time, Copernicus was ” always remained my priority “. A hearing which brought weight to the arguments of the defense, which had had the judge cited.
►Also read: Trial of the rue Copernic attack: the floor of judge Marc Trévidic