Her first words are for this man she got to know through her family. This history and geography professor whose republican values were celebrated throughout the trial. “It would be a step backwards to return home.” This is what Samuel Paty responded to principal Audrey F. when she suggested that he move away from college, to withdraw,” says Me Virginie Leroy, adding that the teacher then made the choice to stay with his students. “Samuel Paty did not return home. He refused to give up his teachings and turn off the lights in his classroom. He refused because it was not acceptable (…) Samuel Paty did not back down and they killed him,” adds this lawyer who defends the professor’s parents, his sister Gaëlle and her two daughters
This is the very last stretch of the trial. Monday, December 16, the floor will be given to the two attorneys general for the indictment. Then, it will be up to the defense lawyers to plead before the special Paris Assize Court delivers its verdict, in principle on Thursday. But immediately, it is up to the lawyers of the civil parties to take the stand.
The role of civil party lawyers
As always, it’s a balancing act. Because in a criminal trial, the victims’ lawyers do not always know which register to place themselves on. For the other participants in the trial, it is simpler. The prosecution is there to bring the accusation. The role of the defense lawyers is of course to dismantle the prosecution’s argument.
But on the side of the lawyers of the civil parties, it is more vague. Some believe that they too must attack the accused and demand their conviction. Others believe that they are not “ prosecutors » and that their mission is just to defend the interests of their clients, by talking about what they have experienced, their suffering, their harm. This latter approach is rather laudable, but in terrorism trials, victims now have a large voice. And it is often with impressive force that they tell of the fear, the pain, the impossible mourning and the wounds that never healed.
This Friday, December 13, the pleadings are placed on both registers. The lawyers do not have strong enough words towards the dock. All guilty without exception of “this abjection”, scolds Me Thibault de Montbrial, lawyer for Mickaëlle Paty, Samuel’s other sister. “ It is not a question of condemning scapegoats, of filling empty docks with defendants, on the contrary, it is of noting that each of them had a determining role in the assassination of Samuel Paty, asserts Me Leroy. It is then recognizing that in our country, we cannot decapitate a professor in the street with complete impunity, that each of the responsibilities that led to this must be severely punished, with unfailing exemplarity. »
“In all schools in France, we are waiting to know if the Republic is going to be firm”
Everyone turns to the court, emphasizing the dimension that their verdict will inevitably take. On the message it will send, well beyond this judicial forum. “ In all schools in France, we are waiting to know if the Republic is going to be firm,” launches Me Francis Szpiner, lawyer for the ex-partner of Samuel Paty and their son. “ You must, through your verdict, save the school, take the teachers out of their state of astonishment, take them out of the fear which now surrounds teaching, you must take them out of this mourning which does not go away. We must, at all costs, ensure that school is no longer one of minutes of silence and attacks.” asserts Me Leroy, refusing half-hearted justice. “ There can be no timidity in criminal qualifications, when a professor of the Republic is beheaded in the street for having served the values of the Republic, for having served us,” she adds.
But there are also words for the civil parties. Me Pauline Ragot talks about legitimacy ” anger “ by Mickaëlle Paty while Me de Montbrial hopes that on the evening of the verdict, she will finally allow herself “to cry”. With modesty, Me Leroy speaks of Jean and Bernadette Paty, Samuel’s parents.“I think of them a lot at this time.moment. To Jean who, for four years, has been telling me that he will hold on, hold on until the trial, and who could not be there (Editor’s note: due to a health problem). Jean whom I have never seen without this indelible tear which he keeps in his right eye, ready to fall as soon as the name of Samuel is mentioned. Bernadette whom you saw, upright, determined, who revealed to you her wishes and her fears”, said the lawyer. Parents who do not “understand why their child was killed for drawings”.
At the end of the hearing, there are also the words of Me Szpiner for the son of Samuel Paty, who came to the hearing at the beginning of November, the day his mother testified. “He saw his father’s death as an injustice. And he asked his mother to tell him what happened. But how can you explain to a child, who was 5 years old at the time and is 9 today, the madness of men, Islamist terrorism and this totalitarian vision of the world? »
