Former French President François Hollande was heard on Wednesday in the trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks that targeted Paris. The former head of state is cited as a witness and will have to justify France’s position in the war in Syria.
While his name has been mentioned many times since the start of the trial, François Hollande finally began to be heard on Wednesday. ISIS operatives who carried out the attacks on Paris had mentioned his name during the attacks.
“I am present in front of the court to bear witness to what was my role as Head of State on that fatal night of November 13, 2015, and to bear witness to what my decisions were in the months that preceded and the months that followed, ”said the former head of state.
He promised to “answer all the questions” of the civil parties and that he would “justify France’s action” against ISIS in Syria.
The Frenchman, Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the group who carried out the attacks of November 13, 2015, considered that there was “nothing personal” when he and the other members of his group targeted France and civilians.
“François Hollande knew the risks he was taking by attacking the Islamic State in Syria,” he said on the sixth day of the trial, considering that these attacks were a response to the foreign policy of France and its then president in Syria.
François Hollande’s name was also heard at Bataclan. “You can only blame your president François Hollande”, the jihadists had declared in a recording of the room.
The former president will have to answer all the questions formulated by an association of victims, some of which implicate him in the attacks signed by the Islamic State.
For him, the jihadist group struck France not for its action abroad but for the French way of life.
.
