These are images that no one really wanted to see but that many civil parties deemed necessary to view. Video surveillance of the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on July 14, 2016 was projected to the audience during the trial of this attack which claimed the lives of 86 people.
Soundless but extremely distressing images that show dozens of people crushed, thrown like bowling pins. Images that several civil parties, forced to come out in tears, could not bear. Nevertheless, it was necessary for the court to view them according to one of their lawyers, Catherine Szwarc. “It seems essential to me for the manifestation of the truth, of course. And yes, it’s hard, there were cries from certain victims who perhaps recognized themselves, who certainly recognized relatives and it’s difficult,” she said.
“I do not regret”
With her husband and friends, Isabelle Picard was on the walk that evening, very close to the truck. “These are images of terror that are indescribable. Apocalyptic moments, I would say. I absolutely wanted to watch this video, I don’t regret it. I think a flashback was necessary for a future reconstruction.”
On the evening of the attack, Stéphane lost his wife Rachel. They had come to watch the fireworks with their two young children. “The detail that comes back is speed. That’s what I always say, it’s like when you’re on a station platform and a train passes by without stopping, there’s this notion of speed and the life is removed in a few hundredths of a second. I had forgotten that it passed so quickly.”
According to him, it was essential that the accused be confronted with the images. “It will show them the consequences of actions, of choices, that they have made, to help or not, to speak or not, to participate or not. What we have seen are the consequences of their choice, I’m sure of it,” he adds. Defendants who, for the most part, have turned their heads or even barely looked at the screen.