What does a hero look like?Who is this commissioner of the anti -crime brigade (BAC) who dared to enter the Bataclan, without waiting for the reinforcements, neutralizing with a simple handgun one of the three terrorists?It is an understatement to say that his testimony was expected on Wednesday September 22, for the tenth day of hearing of the trial of the attacks of November 13.
The man, black suit and white shirt, begins his presentation in a feverish room, more filled than usual.No less than 176 civil parties are present.Families of victims but also survivors came to listen to the story of the one to whom some owe their survival.But it is by a thought to the deceased, to those who could not be saved, that the commissioner of the "BAC75N", the anti -crime of Paris night, chooses to start his remarks.
In the preamble, he also addressed "a particular thought to the police of the night bac who risked their lives to save the lives of the victims".His voice is posed, his emotion contained."The only satisfaction I had that night is to bring them back to them alive in the early morning."
This Friday, November 13, 2015, the man takes office at 6 p.m. with his teammate in a unmarked vehicle."A banal Friday" until this call received at 9:25 pm.He is informed of an explosion at the Stade de France.Then the attacks are linked on the terraces."The confusion is total on the air" of his radio.
At 9:47 p.m., he intercepted another call for fire at Bataclan.Without thinking, he then asked his teammate to "go for it" to the concert hall.On arrival, incessant shots, "an immediate scene of chaos" with bodies lying in front of the Bataclan Café.
At the time, the amazement won him for a few moments.Then "the professional aspect returns".His attention is immediately made towards the entrance to the concert hall.He then describes a chaotic scene: "The doors opened all at once and a compact mass ran towards us screaming. About thirty people in my memory. This mass has a face and a voice. The face ofA totally prostrate, terrified woman. The voice of a screaming man: 'Quick, quickly, there is my wife inside'. "
With his colleague, the policeman decides to cross the doors of the room.Without being sure to make the way back.Inside, "no word" can describe what he sees."The brilliance of the spots brings a kind of white halo. And bodies, carpets of body. People had thrown themselves against each other," he describes in a tone always calm, out of step with horrorof his story.
He progresses in the room with his teammate and, arriving towards the bar, sees Samy Amimour, one of the three terrorists.The latter orders a man to go to bed."He was going to shoot him," said the police officer at the helm.He then advances to a railing to adjust his shot: "I took my aim as a shooting stand. We were driven enough for that."It targets the body, rather than the head, "which was too small".He pulls four times, his pair, twice.The terrorist collapses in a groan.
He then thinks that the terrorist's companions have thrown a grenade from the ceiling.Samy Amimour has in fact just triggered the detonator from his explosive vest.
Shots then sound in his direction: the other two terrorists target them.He first decides to go out, before entering the hell of the concert hall to try to save the most serious wounded.Meanwhile, a dozen bac police joined him."I sent them to death. Despite that, they followed with admirable courage," said the commissioner.He tells how they spent the evening evacuating the first victims, "extremely heavy because they had bathed in their blood".And how one of his colleagues went to get a 5 -year -old boy, living, but under a body, with his anti -burning helmet.
His story ends in heavy silence.Faced with the questions of the president, Jean-Louis Périès, the man wants to be modest, ensuring that he did not show "prompted bravery".The lawyers of the civil parties take turns to thank him.Very moved, the lawyer representing the family of the 5 -year -old child gets up to say that his parents are present at the hearing, who came specially from Lyon: "I want to tell you on their behalf their very deep gratitude, theirgreat admiration. "
Then it is the turn of Christophe Molmy, former boss of the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) to testify.He coordinated the assault against the last two terrorists, entrenched with their hostages in a corridor of the Bataclan.This time, the presentation is much more distant, explanatory.The tone is almost professorial: the police officer came with a PowerPoint to present the BRI, its history and its missions.
Dressed in a dark costume and a light blue shirt, he does not evade the controversies of which he was the target and on the contrary endeavors to restore the image of the accused Parisian elite brigade, in particular by theParliamentary commission of inquiry, not having been effective enough on the scene of the killing.Minute per minute, he returns to the preparation of the assault, defending beak and nail his decisions on the ground.
By describing the assault, he recalls how delicate the operation was to release hostages retained in a "very narrow corridor, 8.5 meters long and 1.35 meters wide".
The president is storing himself."This is a completely unprecedented situation of chaos. (...) It was certainly very complicated to manage. It is not from me that the criticisms will come on possible dysfunctions", he announces in conclusionof the police officer's presentation.No "thanks" for Christophe Molmy, unlike the previous witness.But a series of questions about his tactical choices.
As expected, an assessor asks him why the intervention force of the national police (FIPN) was not activated.This device makes it possible to mobilize the units of the raid, in addition to those of the BRI.Christophe Molmy has not been criticized for not having asked for their support."As soon as you put two units together to work, it necessarily creates complications. We can have sometimes a little different protocols," he justifies.
Sylvie Topaloff, lawyer for a dozen civil parties, stops at the time spent trying to negotiate with the terrorists."Do we not waste time trying to negotiate with this type of people?".The commissioner annoys:
After this delicate interrogation, other lawyers ended up congratulating the former BRI chief for his work done that evening.Gérard Chemla, who defends 132 victims, thus transmitted the thanks from the hostages of the corridor, all released safe and sound.