Patrick Bourbotte, 51 years old, including twenty in the criminal brigade, tends his face towards the ceiling, as if in search of additional oxygen. It is 2:30 p.m., Friday, September 17, and it has been more than an hour since the investigator who testifies at the bar of the Assize Court details the crime scene of the Bataclan.
“This is perhaps the most delicate moment for me… I will now deal with the audio part. It will not identify the range of victims’ voices. It lasts twenty-two seconds. I believe it is necessary to bear witness to the barbarism of the moment. ”
These twenty-two seconds that he is about to broadcast are taken from a recording of 2 h 38 minutes and 47 seconds found in a dictaphone abandoned by one of the spectators at the Eagles of Death Metal concert.
Patrick Bourbotte specifies: “During the first thirty-two minutes, from 9:47 pm to 10:20 pm, 258 shots were recorded, first in bursts, then shot by shot. “
In the courtroom, the necks bend, the hands clench when the first musical notes resound. First shots. Always musical notes. Shootings. The drums are still playing. Then shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting. “Twenty-two seconds which are an eternity”, had warned the investigator.
He speaks again. “Listening carefully to the band makes it possible to distinguish the voices of the three terrorists. They take the hostages of their claim as witnesses. ” Patrick Bourbotte sucks in a new breath of fresh air. “I will now slip my voice into that of the terrorists which is not the easiest thing I have had to do in my career as a judicial police officer …”
“In France, in the United States, we are going to strike”
He reads, changes his tone depending on whether he speaks “assailant number 1” or “assailant number 2”. Eight minutes from the start of recording: “Why are we doing this?” You are bombing our brothers in Syria, in Iraq. Why are we here? We came to do the same thing to you… French and American soldiers bombard us in the air. We are men, us. You are being bombed here on earth. We don’t need planes. Here is. Your president, François Hollande, thank him. ”
Ten minutes away: “You’ll go after your French government, okay?” Who sent the …,[ le mot est masqué par le cri d’un autre assaillant, précise l’enquêteur] in Muslim countries? Sit down, eh! They send their troops to Muslim countries to slaughter ours. With bombs, missiles. They kill women and children, without distinction. Today, women and children without distinction, as they do, we do to them. It’s exactly that. So now you can just blame your president Francois Hollande, okay? He makes the western cowboy to send his troops to fight the Muslims. Today, the hour of revenge has come. It’s over. As I speak to you, the soldiers of the caliphate are everywhere. “
You have 51.49% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
www.lemonde.fr