“JHe saw nothing. It was my sister who told me to run. So I ran. The wheel of the truck grazed my heel.”
Alexandre did not go with his family to the stand last Thursday in Paris. He was 6 years old on July 14, 2016, when the attack on the Promenade des Anglais changed the course of his young life. Alexandre wanted to testify as well. So he wrote this letter that I, David Rebibou, read at the end of the hearing. A preview of the children’s appearances scheduled for this Monday, before the special court.
The assault trial is entering its third week. There will be two days of hearing, which will require Ascension Bridge. But with a strong moment. Young miners never reported this accident publicly.
President Laurent Raviot rejected it at the first trial. Christophe Petiteau, who came after him, agreed. on one condition: those children will testify by video conference, from the legal court of Nice. So they won’t face the dreaded “main exams” room. Nor in the case of the accused, Mohamed Ghraieb and Chokri Chafroud, back for a terrorist criminal association.
“Until my sister hid her eyes from me”
The terrorist attack on the Prom ’86 left dead, including 15 young people, more than 450 injured, and left thousands of people traumatized. That evening, many children met their death. like Alexander. “I saw the truck crushing people, bodies lying on the ground and blood everywhere, until my sister covered my eyes. I heard the screams of children, babies and adults. “
Alexandre followed his mother Agnès on the beach. “My mother told us to hide in the water. But we said it was too dangerous and we had better leave.” So Alexander and his men fled. “I noticed that my friend’s father was no longer there…” Gabriel’s father, Master Corporal Hervé Chadeau, is one of the 86 angels at the Prom.
“I was thinking about the dead”
Like many adults, Alexandre had to “Very scary. I wanted to believe it was a nightmare and I was thinking about the dead.” Those fears, those nightmares haunted him in the years that followed. The young boy will be accompanied by a psychologist. “Now when we talk about it, I don’t cry anymore. But sometimes I think about it again.”
If the commandos hit on November 13 in Paris the carelessness of young people, the terrorism of July 14 hit families with children, coming from all over the world, after a display of fireworks. This specificity makes the children’s words more valuable. Even if the opportunity to include them divides even the ranks of the civil parties.
About ten children must add their voices to those of more than two hundred adults, to express the July 14 shock wave. The trial will reveal his truth in mid-June. These children, even more than their elders, will be able to find themselves in these words from Myrtille, 17, at Friday’s hearing: “What I expect from this test is the future. “
