Unique French Trial with Significant Impact
By Jennifer Churay
Introduction
In November 2015, a series of terrorist attacks in Paris, France left hundreds of people dead or injured.[1] After the attacks, France declared a state of emergency, implemented new laws, and prepared for a historic criminal trial.[2] Unfortunately, the world is all too familiar with terrorist attacks.[3] However, the trial for the accused defendants of the 2015 attacks is unique in several ways.
Because of the uniqueness of the trial, France made some changes to accommodate the trial.[4] After the trial, some people reported feeling like justice was served, while others said that the trial did not help them.[5] But even though France may never forget the pain and terror caused by the November 2015 attacks, the structure of the trial may stand as a future example for other countries that may, unfortunately, find themselves in a similar situation.
About the Attacks
The attacks in Paris happened on November 13, 2015. The first incident occurred at 9:16 PM when suicide bombers detonated their weapons in the city.[6] Simultaneously, shooters attacked people visiting local restaurants and businesses.[7] Then, explosions near the Stade de France Stadium, forced President François Hollande to evacuate a soccer match.[8] One attacker was also apprehended inside the stadium; fortunately, before he detonated his bomb.[9] However, another bomber near one of the stadium entrances detonated his bomb, but no one other than the bomber was harmed by that explosion.[10] More than thirty people, however, had already been killed in the other attacks.[11]
The deadliest attack occurred at the Bataclan, a historic theatre in Paris.[12] Gunmen fired into the crowd, held the theatre hostage, and detonated two more suicide bombs, eventually killing eighty-nine attendees in total.[13] It was not until 11:30 PM that the attacks subsided: Over two hours after the first attack took place.[14] Ultimately, 130 people were killed, over 350 people were injured, and the entire country mourned the lives that were lost.[15] The rest of the world was on edge, and the United States called it “an ‘attack on all of humanity.’”[16]
The French Criminal Justice System
As one might expect, there are both some similarities and differences in how France and the United States run criminal trials.[17] This article will focus on the way in which the French system utilizes witness testimony. During a French criminal trial, neither the judge nor the jury act as a fact finder in the same manner as in the United States.[18] Instead, an extensive investigative record is developed prior to trial, and it includes witness statements and police reports.[19] The judge or the jury, depending on the type of case, then review the investigative record at trial to determine if there is enough evidence to establish that the defendant is guilty.[20]
The Palais de Justice where the trial was held. The same thirteenth-century courthouse that Marie Antoinette and Emile Zola were also tried in. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Because the French system does not involve lengthy and tedious procedural debates or fact finding missions, the prosecution rarely calls witnesses at trial.[21] Additionally, France does not abide by established rules of evidence, so hearsay evidence is admissible, and there is little reason for witnesses to repeat their statements already made during the investigation.[22] If the prosecution calls witnesses, it usually occurs when there are multiple defendants, and they blame the other defendants on trial to defend themselves.[23]
If witnesses are called, the parties’ questions are limited to inquiries about facts related to the case.[24] Additionally, attorneys that represent civil parties suing the criminal defendant are permitted to question the criminal defendant during the criminal trial, and those civil parties are also permitted to testify during the criminal trial.[25] So, in France, witnesses are utilized in unique ways as compared to trials in the United States.[26]
The Trial
The use of witnesses in the November 2015 attacks trial is one aspect that makes it unique and historically significant.[27] Even though witnesses do not commonly testify in French criminal trials, this trial included over 400 witnesses.[28] Furthermore, one attorney represented more than 100 of those witnesses.[29] The witnesses shared their experiences of the attacks, the trauma and injuries they or someone they know suffered, and how their lives have been impacted since the attacks.[30] Thus, this trial is unique not only because witnesses were called, but also because of the sheer number of witnesses that testified.[31]
Another unique aspect of the trial was the number of defendants. Over a dozen defendants were tried and convicted in one trial.[32] Six of the defendants are believed to be dead and were tried in absentia.[33] Given the number of witnesses, defendants, members of the media, and members of the public that in attendance, France built a special courtroom located inside the same thirteenth-century courthouse that Marie Antoinette and Emile Zola were also tried in.[34] The courtroom also consisted of twelve overflow rooms that could hold 1,800 plaintiffs, 300 lawyers, and numerous spectators.[35] Finally, the duration of the trial was also unusually long. The trial did not begin until 2021 — six years after the attacks.[36] Furthermore, once the trial finally began, it lasted nine months with periodic breaks between hearings to allow emotions to settle down.[37]
Conclusion
Even though the trial was long, involved many participants, and required constructing a special venue, the trial most importantly allowed those harmed by the attacks to have their voices heard.[38] Additionally, France punished those responsible for attacking their people and country.[39] Finally, France showed the world that a large, complex trial can successfully be held, and that it is possible to hold a number of bad actors accountable for their harms.
[1] See Lucy Williamson, Unique Terror Trial that Changed France, BBC NEWS (July 2, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62009301; see also George Bowden and Leo Sands, Paris Trial: Salah Abdeslam Guilty as Historic Trial Ends, BBC NEWS (June 30, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61989354; Lori Hinnant, 2015 Partis Attacks Suspect Claims Deaths of 130 People was ‘Nothing Personal,’ PBS (Sep. 21, 2021), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/2015-paris-attacks-suspect-claims-deaths-of-130-people-was-nothing-personal; Lori Hinnant and Nicolas Vaux-Montagny, Paris Terror Trial Opens for 20 Accused in 2015 Attacks, PBS (Sep. 8, 2021), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trial-of-20-men-accused-in-2015-paris-attacks-begins; PBS NewsHour, A Visit to Paris One Year After Devastating Terror Attacks, PBS (Nov. 11, 2016), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/visit-paris-one-year-devastating-terror-attacks.
[2] November 2015 Attacks: A Timeline of the Night that Shook the French Capital, FRANCE24 (Aug. 9, 2021), https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210908-paris-november-2015-attacks-a-timeline-of-the-night-that-shook-the-city (herein after “November 2015 Attack: Timeline”); Michael Ray, Paris Attacks of 2015, BRITANNICA (Dec. 2, 2015), https://www.britannica.com/event/Paris-attacks-of-2015/additional-info#history (last updated June 30, 2022).
[3] U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Counter Terrorism Guide: Historic Timeline, OFF. OF THE DIR. OF NAT’L INTEL. https://www.dni.gov/nctc/timeline.html, (last visited Aug. 30, 2022).
[4] Bowden and Sands, supra note 1.
[5] Bowden and Sands, supra note 1.
[6] November 2015 Attacks: Timeline, supra note 2; Ray, supra note 2.
[7] Id.
[8] November 2015 Attacks: Timeline, supra note 2.
[9] November 2015 Attacks: Timeline, supra note 2; Ray, supra note 2.
[10] Ray, supra note 2.
[11] November 2015 Attacks: Timeline, supra note 2.
[12] November 2015 Attacks: Timeline, supra note 2; Ray, supra note 2.
[13] Id.
[14] Ray, supra note 2.
[15] Ray, supra note 2; November 2015 Attacks: Timeline, supra note 2.
[16] November 2015 Attacks: Timeline, supra note 2.
[17] See Debevoise & Plimpton LLC, 10 Things U.S. Criminal Defense Lawyers Should Know About Defending a Case in France 4, 93 (2019).
[18] Id. at 93-94.
[19] Id. at 94.
[20] Id.
[21] Id. at 94, 101-02.
[22] Id. at 102.
[23] Id.
[24] Id. This is different compared to the U.S. system in which other lines of questioning, such as facts that are unrelated to the case but undermine the witness’s credibility, are permitted so long as they comply with evidence rules. See ABA Model Rules of Evidence.
[25] Williamson, supra note 1.
[26] See Debevoise & Plimpton LLC, at 93-102.
[27] See Williamson, supra note 1.
[28] Id.
[29] Id.
[30] See id.
[31] Id.
[32] Id. Various sources listed different numbers of defendants that ranged between fourteen and twenty defendants. Bowden and Sands, supra note 1; Williamson, supra note 1; Nicolas Vaux-Montagny, Lone Surviving Attacker in 2015 Paris Attacks Gets Life in Prison, No Parole, PBS (June 29, 2022), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/lone-surviving-attacker-in-2015-paris-attacks-gets-life-in-prison-no-parole.
[33] Bowden and Sands, supra note 1
[34] See Williamson, supra note 1; Vaux-Montagny, supra note 35; Hinnant, supra note 1; Bowden and Sands, supra note 1.
[35] Vaux-Montagny, supra note 35; Hinnant and Vaux-Montagny, supra note 1.
[36] Hinnant and Vaux-Montagny, supra note 1. Various sources do not state why there was such a long period of time between the attacks and the trial. See id.; Vaux-Montagny, supra note 35; Bowden and Sands, supra note 1; Hinnant, supra note 1; Williamson, supra note 1; George Bowden, Paris Attacks Trial: Verdicts Begin for 20 Accused of Mass Murder, BBC NEWS (June 29, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61981735.
[37] Williamson, supra note 1; Bowden and Sands, supra note 1.
[38] See Williamson, supra note 1.
[39] See Bowden, supra note 39.