Since yesterday, the victims of the November 13 attacks have spoken. Walid Youssef was seriously injured at the Stade de France. At the bar, he recounted his ordeal. In addition to his injuries, the language barrier, he was faced with administrative difficulties related to his nationality.
Walid Youssef was to stay in France for a week. He will stay there for two and a half years. Transported from one hospital to another. From intensive care to intensive care.
Yesterday the young man of Egyptian nationality came to testify at the bar, to tell about his November 13th and the difficult years that followed.
I thought I was living my last seconds
This November 13, he is late for the France Germany match. The first half has already started. He is running. At 9:20 p.m., he arrived at Gate H, that of the latecomers, when the suicide bomber blew himself up. Severely injured, he thinks he is going to die. I was “deadlift“by the explosion. When he opens his eyes again, he discovers his”right leg separated from my body ” (…) “I thought I was living my last seconds“, he remembers. The young man prays then loses consciousness.
More than 2 years of care
He was evacuated urgently but at the scene of the explosion, the police found his passport. “My passport fell very close to the terrorist at the crime scene. They (Editor’s note, the police) had a doubt: was I a victim? Was I a terrorist? Investigators will take several days to remove doubts “, he explained in an interview.
Faced with the president of the court, Walid Youssef who apologizes for not testifying in French specifies: “the Arabic language is the only thing I have in common with the accused “, before telling the story of his “eight days in a coma“, his “multiple operations undergone“that he has”lost count“and the after-effects he has today. Before continuing his testimony he asks to sit down, still suffering from his injuries.
About twenty bomb fragments punctured his body. He will undergo 12 operations. “I was in intensive care for about 100 days. The last operation was unsuccessful, I had to return to intensive care at the American hospital for 45 days. In all, I stayed in France, 2 and a half years for the treatments“, he reports.
Administrative red tape
To heal himself, Walid Youssef had to go into debt when he had just started working. The medical, administrative and legal procedures were laborious not to mention that he did not speak French.
You had to pay everything, move everything forward and it was not possible
For his lawyer, Maître Samia Maktouf, “victims like Walid who do not benefit from social protection had to advance money. I’m talking about simple things but it’s huge. Many friends and members of his family took the plane and came to the bedside of Walid and his mother who was alone to face her difficulties and especially to answer this immediate question which was financial.”
Yesterday the young man did not have a look for the accused: “They are a shame“, he blurted out.
At 33, Walid Youssef, who has resumed his work in Egypt, still suffers from stomach and leg problems and from tinnitus. He must return to France for a new operation.
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