For three days, the survivors of the Stade de France and the terraces of Parisian cafes have taken the helm to recount the torn flesh, the broken loves, the traumatized children and resuscitate the memory of the dead. Three days that the observers of the trial of November 13th wonder how the fourteen defendants, silent and masked, live the accounts of these anonymous whom terror struck blindly.
Thursday, September 30, we had a first element of response. It came, without much surprise, from the most talkative accused, Salah Abdeslam. And it is the testimony of a woman of Muslim faith, Aminata Diakite, whose sister Asta was killed in front of the bar Le Carrillon, which provoked the reaction of the only surviving member of the commandos: “Those who did that are not Muslims, our Islam forbids us to kill”, had let go of the young woman at the helm. She is not the first to make this speech: of the forty or so civil parties who have spoken since Tuesday, five made it clear that they were of Muslim faith to distinguish their faith from jihadist ideology.
Aminata Diakite is still at the helm when Salah Abdeslam expresses his desire to speak. It is up to the president, Jean-Louis Périès, to grant it to him by switching on his microphone if he deems it useful. He hesitates : ” This is not the moment. I am not sure that the civil parties wish to have your testimony at this precise moment, or else to have words a little less provocative than those you have said so far. That I don’t have to cut you off ”, he warns.
– ” It is not to be provocative, in any case not more provocative than the people who spoke yesterday “, answers Salah Abdeslam. The day before, a Carillon survivor had described the accused as “Scum” and of “Pathetic little demons”.
– “You were the first to provoke, sir”, retorts the president, reminding him of his remarks made ten days earlier, just after the broadcast of videos of the shooting of the Belle Equipe, which left 21 dead: “These terrorists are my brothers”.
“We only target the disbelievers”
The microphone is on. Salah Abdeslam unfolds his remarks: “The victims who spoke up immediately claimed to be Islam. What I am going to say is not going to please everyone, but we are targeting the disbelievers. If we touched Muslims, that was not our intention. I hear that a lot of people are suffering, I hear the victims express themselves, I have no doubt that they are good people, that they have qualities, etc. But there are a lot of victims on our side too, in Syria, in Iraq (…) who were affected by the coalition strikes. “
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