“Islamist terrorist act” in Paris: a blow to the same wound

From one moment to another, the feeling of horror returns. On Friday at a quarter to twelve, a man from the eleventh district of Paris attacks two people with an ax or a machete. At first, investigators can only determine the depth of the wounds, not the type of weapon. Crime scene: Rue Nicolas Appert number six. Exactly the place where five years ago on January 7, 2015, the editorial team of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” was attacked.

Meanwhile, the cartoonists and authors of “Charlie Hebdo” have moved into new rooms, the address is kept secret for security reasons, but the old neighbors have stayed. Among them is the television production company Premières Lignes. Five years ago, Premières Lignes employees witnessed the murders. They heard the terrorists Chérif and Saïd Kouachi shoot eleven people. Now two employees of the production company, a young man and a young woman, were attacked while they were standing on the street in front of the building to have a cigarette. Both victims were injured, one seriously. A witness testified that he heard the woman screaming that she was bleeding from a large head wound.

Traces of blood on the face

They were never directly threatened in advance, said Paul Moreira, an employee of Premières Lignes, in an interview with the BFM television network after the attack. At the same time, he made the connection with the attack on “Charlie Hebdo”: “It was exactly the same place, and they were there unprotected, that makes you shudder.” The anti-terrorist prosecutor took over the investigation on Friday afternoon. Initially, neither the identity nor the motives of the perpetrators were known.

Police arrested two suspects shortly after the crime. Including a man in the Place de la Bastille, not far from the crime scene, who had bloodstains on his face. In the afternoon, the responsible prosecutor said that the “main culprit” had been captured, a man born in 2002 who was known to the police, among other things, for illegal possession of weapons.

Not only the location of the attack, but also the moment brings back the worst memories.

The affected district remained cordoned off in a large area, children and youth could no longer leave schools and daycare centers. There was a search for other suspects. In the afternoon, the forensic team stood in white protective suits in front of the mural showing the people who were killed on January 5, 2015. A previous crime scene had once again been turned into a crime scene.

Not only the location of the attack, but also the moment brings back the worst memories. The Palace of Justice in Paris operates from September 2 the trial against 13 people accused of having prepared the attack against Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. The trial was accompanied by new attempts at intimidation against the satirical magazine. On Monday, the head of “Charlie Hebdo” personnel department, Marika Bret, had to be smuggled out of her apartment by the police after the death threats against her became increasingly specific. “Since the trial began, we have received all kinds of atrocities, including threats from al-Qaeda and calls for someone to stop the work of the Kouachi brothers,” Bret said. At the beginning of the trial, “Charlie Hebdo” had again published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Also, the title of the cover: “Tout ça pour ça”, all because of that.

How tense the security situation is could be felt in the Palace of Justice from the beginning of the trial. To follow the “Charlie Hebdo” process, not only do you have to sanitize your hands and wear a mask, you also have to go through four different security gates and show the contents of your backpack and bags four times.

After the attack on Friday, the panic was palpable again, one of the most direct Consequences of terror is. There are still no allegations, no exchange of blows, the witness stand belongs to the mourners. People like Valérie Braham who say: “I too died the day my husband died. I only exist because of my children. ”On January 9, Braham’s husband was shopping for the family’s Shabbat food at the kosher supermarket when terrorist Amédy Coulibaly shot him.

A cry of solidarity

The “Charlie Hebdo” trial is the name given to the 49 days of the trial that began on September 2. But the crime to be investigated encompasses more than the attack on the cartoonists of the satirical magazine. On January 7, 2015, the whole world saw images of the brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi triumphantly taking to the streets, Kalashnikov in hand, after killing 11 people. Soon after, a policeman was murdered.

“Je suis Charlie”, I am Charlie – a cry of solidarity went through the country. And the killing continued. On January 8, Amédy Coulibaly shot and killed a female police officer, and on January 9 he robbed a supermarket. Not just any supermarket: Coulibaly chose the Hyper Cacher in Porte de Vincennes, in eastern Paris, because he knew that Jews mainly shop there.

In Paris, these three days in January are now being negotiated as part of a process. This also shows what holds together the ideology of Islamists: their hatred is for the French Republic. Their values ​​are invoked so frequently that they almost seem exhausted. Freedom of expression, tolerance, rule of law. But these are not empty words. The Kouachis and Coulibaly choose their goals in such a way as to ensure recognition and fame from the fans. In their logic, they kill their “enemies”. Those who do not want to be banned from publishing crude Islamic cartoons. Those who represent the state that protects this freedom. And finally Jews. A witness remembers one of the phrases Coulibaly said after her murders: “You are what I hate most: French and Jews. On Thursday, a propaganda video from the IS terrorist militia was shown in the courtroom in which Chérif and Saïd glorified Kouachi as “brave men” in the “holy battle of Paris.”

The eleven men believed to support the facts sit in a glass box in the courtroom.

On January 9, 2015, the Kouachis and Coulibaly were shot and killed by the police. Some when they open fire. The other, Coulibaly, shortly after when the antiterrorist unit broke into the supermarket. So who can remain accountable today? The eleven men believed to be supporting the facts sit in a glass box in the courtroom. They are accused of acquiring weapons and covering up tracks. The next weeks of the trial will focus on how much they really knew.

For a month, only one question dominated the process: What did the victims experience? It was put to the cartoonist of “Charlie Hebdo” Corinne Rey, known as Coco, who survived the attack and who opened the door to the terrorists, who had the Kalashnikov behind them. “I’ve felt guilty for a long time,” Rey said on the stand. The only culprits are the Islamist terrorists. And those in society who give in to Islamism. I also want to testify here because I would like to say right now that we as a society have a problem. “

“We were like sisters”

The question is also asked of Clarissa Jean-Philippe’s mother. Clarissa Jean-Philippe was 26 years old and was shot to death by Coulibaly on January 8 for being a police officer. “We were like sisters,” says her mother, who has traveled from Martinique to talk about how terror stole what she loved. Eric Cohen should also tell how he’s doing. On January 9, Coulibaly shot and killed her 20-year-old son Yohan. “I can’t forgive the ease with which this life was taken,” says Cohen.

Even before the trial began, it was classified as “historical” so every day of the trial is filmed for the archives. If you look at this first half of the process later, you won’t just hear the voices of the grieving and the survivors. You will find a document of the despair, bitterness, and helplessness that has been a part of the country for five years. And you will see people standing up against the malice, presumption and hatred that killed 17 people in three days in January.

But this Friday this process does not feel historical, not as if it were something past, but painfully current. Regardless of the motive of the perpetrator or perpetrators, the attack opens wounds that barely healed anyway.

Published: 09/25/2020, 5:35 pm