Paris attacks survivors hope for justice as France’s biggest criminal trial in history begins
Survivors and relatives of those who lost their lives during the terrorists attacks in Paris in November 2015 are hoping for justice as France’s biggest criminal trial in history begins.
Members of an IS cell armed with assault weapons and explosive vests targeted a football stadium, bars and cafes and the Bataclan music venue, killing 130 people.
Olivier Laplaud and his wife were in the Bataclan that night enjoying themselves amongst a crowd of 1,500 people. But in an instant he told us things changed.
Mr Laplaud and his wife managed to crawl to a dressing room where they hid along with dozens of others listening to what he calls “the massacre” outside
He said: “We were dancing on the balcony and shouting and laughing and singing. It was really a good mood.”
But then he says: “We heard a very loud noise that was covering the entire music. And it was really loud. I am a musician and I play the guitar and so my first thought was that the speaker has just broken.”
Mr Laplaud says it was his wife who realised the worst. He explains: “My wife, whose father used to work as a policeman, identified a weapon sound. And she grabbed me by the hand to hide. I just saw over the balcony some flames from what I identified as guns and the people in the area in front of the stage had just tried to escape and some were already shot.”
The couple managed to crawl to a dressing room where they hid along with dozens of others listening to what Mr Laplaud calls “the massacre” outside.
The wait for help was long – it was more than two hours before the police entered. But the sound the couple heard as they did so terrified them more than ever.
Mr Laplaud says: “The first policemen entered the Bataclan and shot the first terrorist who was on the stage and his belt exploded. And the blast was very, very loud, it made all our room shake. And I was just thinking they not only have weapons but they have grenades or whatever and the venue could explode, could burn, and we are trapped in that case.”
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A survivor reflects on France’s terror trial
Mr Laplaud says the start of the trial is an important moment for survivors and the victims’ families. But it will also stir strong and painful memories.
The worst for him are those after the police came to rescue them and he had to walk through the carnage of the Bataclan.
He says: “Still now I have the images of the corpses next to my feet. The policemen told us to close our eyes and to just follow the voices of the other policemen but as I was hitting something on the floor or slipping on something, I just had to look at what I was doing and I saw bodies and people shot and heard people moaning in the pits. And still today I see them and I hear them.”
Mr Laplaud will be amongst so many who will have to re-live what they experienced or listen to what happened to their loved ones, on 13 November 2015. Twenty people will go on trial for the attacks which sent France into a state of emergency.
Six of the accused will be tried in absentia, with five believed to have likely died in Syria.
Some 130 people died and hundreds more were injured in the attacks. Pic: AP
Victims and families are hoping for justice but the shock and pain at what happened on that Friday night six years ago was compounded in the days and weeks that followed by the revelation that most of those believed to have been involved in the attacks had either French or Belgian nationality.
With this trial, France is confronting home-grown terrorism.
Central to the hearing will be French citizen Salah Abdeslam who prosecutors say is the sole survivor of the IS terrorists who killed and maimed on a horrendous scale in Paris.
He allegedly ditched his explosive vest and it would be five months before he was arrested in Brussels.
His childhood friend Mohamed Abrini – who is believed to have driven Abdeslam away from Paris – was later caught on camera during the attacks on Brussels airport and subways.
Police fired more than 5,000 rounds during a raid in Saint-Denis, in Paris. Pic: AP
Another friend, Abdelhamid Abaaoud – said to be the mastermind of the cell – was killed in a raid on an apartment block in the St Denis area of Paris five days after the attacks.
Marc Hecker, a terrorism expert, says France has to examine the reasons why young men become radicalised
Marc Hecker who is a terrorism expert and director of research at the French Institute for International Relations, tells us: “Actually, homegrown terrorism has become the norm over the past 20 years. And that’s not actually the main surprise here.
“The main characteristics of this trial are obviously the scale of the attack but also the fact that these young people, being born and raised in France, travelled to Syria and then got a real, almost professional paramilitary training and then were able to come back to Europe and perpetrate those very deadly attacks.”
He says France has to examine the reasons why young men become radicalised. It has to be addressed because the numbers are growing.
He said: “We have a database in France of radicalised individuals that was created in 2015. And actually it started growing and growing. And now there are approximately 23,000 individuals in this database.
“And amongst these 23,000, you have 8,000 individuals who are actively surveilled and monitored by the intelligence agency. That’s a lot. You cannot have a policeman behind each of these individuals.”
Armed French police forces are seen near the Paris courthouse on the Ile de la Cite ahead of the opening of the trial
The trial will be held in a specially created high-security courtroom inside the former Palace of Justice in Paris. Testimony from 1,800 victims and families will be heard during what is expected to be a nine-month case.
Salah Abdeslam is the only defendant facing murder charges. Most are accused of facilitating terrorism, providing money, transport, weapons and explosives.
During previous court appearances Abdeslam has refused to speak or co-operate with prosecutors. Few have high expectations he will behave differently this time.
Police raided the Bataclan theatre in the early hours- of 14 November
And that, Olivier Laplaud says, will be difficult for victims and the loved ones of those who died.
“Silence is a provocation” he says, adding there are many things he would like to know including why Abdeslam took his explosive belt off.
“But I don’t expect much from him,” he adds.
World
Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant over alleged war crimes
Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza that Israel launched following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The prime minister’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.
Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks.
It is unclear if he is still alive, following an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.
Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.
The court originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and today announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.
The new UK Labour government said in the summer it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters
Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.
These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
Netanyahu previously spoke of his “disgust” at the suggestion the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.
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A video released by Hamas in 2005 shows a man identified as Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP
Warrant for Hamas leader
The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes including taking hostages.
Discussing the 7 October attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.”
In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was not in a position to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so was issuing the arrest warrant.
The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas who was subsequently killed in July.
Four people have died and a number of others are in hospital after allegedly being served drinks laced with methanol.
According to reports, six British travellers are among those being treated in Laos, after falling ill last week.
Two Danish women in their 20s and a 56-year-old US citizen are reported to have died in what authorities fear was a mass poisoning.
On Thursday, it was confirmed an Australian woman – named as Bianca Jones, 19, from Melbourne – had become the fourth person to die.
Holly Bowles Pic: Facebook
Her friend Holly Bowles is being treated in hospital after calling for medical help at their accommodation, Nana’s Backpackers Hostel.
In a statement given to the Herald Sun, Ms Jones’s family said: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our beloved daughter and sister, Bianca Jones, has passed away.
“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us.
“We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.”
Simone White Pic: Squire Patton Boggs
One of the British travellers being treated in hospital has been named as Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent.
According to The Times newspaper, she became ill last week in Vang Vieng – a resort popular with backpackers.
Ms White’s friend, Bethany Clarke, a healthcare worker also from Orpington, posted on a Laos Backpacking Facebook group to warn other travellers.
“Urgent – please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars,” she wrote.
“Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”
New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning.
Ukraine has fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, a source has told Sky News.
The UK and Ukraine have not yet confirmed the use of the long-range weapons in Russia but their deployment has been widely reported in British media.
Footage has been posted on Telegram reportedly showing wreckage from one of the missiles in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.
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What are Storm Shadow missiles?
Ukraine war: Follow latest updates
The UK had previously said that British tanks, anti-tank missiles and other military equipment could be used inside Russia as part of Ukraine’s defence – but had kept restrictions on the use of long-range missiles.
It comes just days after US President Joe Biden authorised the same policy shift.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in the Bryansk region.
A Russian state news agency cited the ministry as saying the missiles caused no casualties.
The missile is also called SCALP by French forces. File pic: AP
Missiles will have a ‘marginal effect’
Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes says Ukraine’s allies have been pursuing a strategy of ambiguity and “it remains to be seen whether we get official confirmation on this from the UK or from Ukraine”.
“There is also the uncomfortable reality that Ukraine’s stockpile of Storm Shadow missiles is severely limited, so their use will only have a marginal effect.”
Meanwhile, Sky’s military analyst Sean Bell says he would be amazed if this attack really marks the first time such a missile has been used by Ukraine to hit inside Russia.
“I would be quite surprised if they haven’t been used for selected targets further on [into Russia] because they are… very, very effective at striking Russian logistics hubs, headquarters, ammunition dumps,” he said.
British forces used Storm Shadows in the Iraq war in 2003. File pic: Reuters
The same missiles are also used by French forces, using the alternative name SCALP, and are made by the Anglo-French arms manufacturer, MBDA.
Embassies shut over air attack fears
Earlier, the US and some other Western embassies in Kyiv closed amid fears Russia was preparing a major air attack on the Ukrainian capital.
Read more from Sky News:
Son of Norway’s crown princess in court
Rust premieres three years after fatal shooting
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been asking Kyiv’s allies to give his troops the capability to strike deeper behind Russian lines for over a year.
Mr Biden’s change of policy is linked to changing tactics by the Russians, which began deploying North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces.
The White House is set to announce more military aid for Ukraine worth up to $275m (£217m), the US defence secretary has said.
Lloyd Austin said the support would “meet critical battlefield needs” and would include munitions for rocket systems, artillery and tank weapons, along with anti-personnel landmines.
Russian politician Maria Butina and Donald Trump Jr, the son of US President-elect Donald Trump, both warned that Mr Biden’s decision over Ukraine’s usage of long-range missiles could spark the start of a third world war.
Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold required for the use of nuclear weapons after the US move, adding to fears the conflict could escalate.
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