The trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 reached this Monday, March 28 the 100ᵉ day of hearing. 100 days during which the Special Court of Assizes of Paris heard the victims, focused on the lives and careers of the accused, heard them on the preparations for the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis before arriving at this week to this fateful day of November 13, 2015. This Monday, a French investigator returned to the arrival of terrorists in the Paris region. Hearing report, Nathanaël Vittrant.
” With all due respect to the military, this is military operation. At the helm, the inspector from the anti-terrorist section of the criminal brigade describes the methodical organization of the cell, the trip to Paris of the three cars, the partitioning of communications between the various commandos and the organizers who remained in Belgium, the use of unique telephone lines purchased for the occasion. Once they arrived in the Paris region, the commandos split up between a rented house in Bobigny and a hotel room further south in Alfortville.
On the screens of the courtroom parade the photos of the places, somewhat turned around since the special units passed by there to make sure that no danger remained. We find the remains of a pizza order, cans of tuna, sad last meals of aspirants to martyrdom. In Bobigny: electric igniter caps and shreds of red fabric which we know were used to make the explosive belts.
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Last scouting and mysterious visit to Roissy
The inspector also mentions this scouting trip in the afternoon of November 13 near the scene of the attacks which will take place a few hours later. A vehicle passes on the side of the Place de la République, goes up to the north of Paris and stops nearly 45 minutes at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. To do what? The investigation did not make it possible to know it, it is necessary to be satisfied with assumptions.
” From experience, says the investigatorin cases of organized crime, it happens that vacuum cars (vehicles parked for a long time in a given place, editor’s note) are used to store weapons or equipment. The cell could also have gone to the airport to pick someone up. Last hypothesis, the airport had been considered as an attack target. A paper found in one of the vehicles on which was scribbled “ Place de la République / Stade de France / Charles de Gaulle airport is the only material element supporting it.
Hasty departure and return to Brussels of Mohamed Abrini
And then there is this hasty departure of Mohamed Abrini on the night of November 12 to 13. Just hours after arriving in what he would describe himself as the ” convoy of death he calls a taxi from a restaurant near the Bobigny hideout. Initially he wants to reach the station to return to Belgium, when the conductor informs him that after midnight there is no more train, the two men negotiate so that he brings him back directly to Brussels. At the same time, Bilal Hadfi, the youngest of the terrorists, barely 20 years old in 2015, changed hideouts, moved from the room in Alfortville to that in Bobigny.
Here again, the Court makes assumptions: faced with the withdrawal of one of its members, did the cell change its plans and transfer Hadfi from one commando to another? Should there have been initially not three but four terrorists at the Bataclan? ” Without establishing a hierarchy among the victims, replies the inspector, we can clearly see that the main target was the Bataclan. The other targets are struck first, to divert the police forces and the emergency services. So it’s possible, speaking in military terms, that they planned to deploy the bulk of the troops there.. »
It is the turn of Me Marie Violleau, Mohamed Abrini’s lawyer to question the investigator. ” Last week, Mr. Abrini said for the first time in 6 years that he was scheduled to be part of this November 13 commando. Does that seem consistent to you? The inspector hesitates for a moment. ” I want to tell you yes. He participates in all the preparatory steps for the attacks, for me that he is a stakeholder, yes, it makes sense. Precisely, this Tuesday, it is Mohamed Abrini who will have the floor.