Trial over November 2015 attacks in Paris begins

Download

French fire brigade members aid an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall following the fatal shootings on November 13, 2015. Reuters/Christian Hartmann

The trial begins on Wednesday of 20 people involved in the November 2015 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and hundreds more injured.

The defendants are being tried for their involvement in the planning and carrying out of the suicide bomb and gun attacks in the French capital.

A special temporary courtroom has been built inside the history Court of Appeal on an island on the River Seine in central Paris in order to accommodate the sheer size of proceedings.

It will be the biggest criminal trial in French history, with at least 110 days of hearings anticipated.

01:24

Five judges will preside over the trial, supported by an additional four magistrates.

More than 300 lawyers are representing the victims and families of the victims of the attacks as well as the defendants.

The court will hear from survivors and witnesses as well as hearing testimony later this year from Francois Hollande, who was the president at the time.

The Bataclan Cafe and theater in Paris, now, six years after jihadists attacked and killed 90 people on November 13, 2015. Thomas Coex / AFP

Just one of the suspected perpetrators of the attacks - the French-Belgian national Salah Abdeslam - will appear in court.

He is believed to be the last survivor from the cell of 10 men who carried out the attacks - most of the perpetrators either detonated suicide vests or were killed by police.

The appeal for information issued by French police trying to locate Abdeslam Salah in 2015.

The 19 other people who are being prosecuted are accused of providing logistical support.

Six of them are targets of arrest warrants and will be tried in absentia.

'An act of war'

On the night of 13 November 2015, three groups of attackers carried out a coordinated set of attacks across the French capital.

The first team set off suicide bombs outside the Stade de France in the north of the city, where Francois Hollande was attending a soccer match.

Investigators work outside a bar near the Stade de France where explosions were reported to have detonated outside the stadium during the France vs German friendly soccer match in Saint-Denis near Paris, France, November 13, 2015. Reeuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

Shortly after that a second group of attackers in central Paris started shooting at people sitting on the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants.

Finally, two more gunmen entered the Bataclan music venue where they opened fire on concert-goers.

130 people died in the attacks in what former president Hollande described as an "act of war".

The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The trial is expected to run until spring next year.

Cover picture: A French Policeman near the Paris courthouse on Wednesday before the start of the trial of the Paris November 2015 attacks. Reuters/Christian Hartmann

Open in CGTN APP for better experience

Search Trends