Nice terror trial: no killer, no accomplices, few bereaved families

The man who drove a truck into the crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice in 2016, killing 86 people, injuring hundreds of others, is himself dead, shot by security forces at the scene. The eight accused in this trial are suspected of relatively low levels of complicity. Few bereaved families have made the trip to Paris.

An artist's sketch shows the Paris courtroom at the start of the trial of eight individuals for their alleged role in the 14 July 2016 attacks in Nice. REUTERS - ELISABETH DE POURQUERY

The Nice trial is being held in the central Paris courtroom specially built to accommodate the so-called Bataclan hearings, the trial of twenty men involved in the planning and perpetration of the November 2015 Paris massacres which cost 132 people their lives.

If the physical surroundings and the security precautions are identical to those in place for the earlier trial, the atmosphere at the start of this Nice hearing could hardly be more different.

As the presiding judge, Laurent Raviot, officially opened proceedings on Monday afternoon, fewer than one third of the seats reserved for bereaved relatives and injured survivors were occupied. 

Daily newspaper Le Monde reports that, in Nice itself, where a retransmission service has been established for the families of victims in the Acropolis conference centre, fewer than 30 of the 700 seats were occupied at the opening.

A forum for the bereaved

One thing which has not changed is the place which French justice accords to the survivors and bereaved families, the so-called parties civiles or civil witnesses.

The November 2015 trial devoted six weeks to patiently listening to the testimonies of those who survived, to the police and ambulance service officials who were the first to arrive in the wake of the massacres, to those who escaped physical harm only to collapse psychologically in the weeks after the attacks.

Police estimate that 30,000 people had gathered on the Nice seafront to watch a fireworks display celebrating France's national holiday on 14 July when Lahouaiej-Bouhlel began his rampage.

Over two thousand people have already registered as victims; 250 of them have indicated a desire to testify. The presiding judge has asked the lawyers representing the families to be selective.

"We've waited six years for this," said Seloua Mensi, who lost her sister in the Nice atrocity. 

"The trial is going to be very difficult for us, but it's important to be able to speak about what we went through.

"Confronting the accused, seeing them and understanding what happened, will allow us to rebuild our lives," she said.

 Seloua Mensi may be hoping for too much.

"The fact that the sole perpetrator is not there will create frustration. There will be many questions that no one will be able to answer," said Eric Morain, a lawyer for a victims' association that is taking part in the trial.

"We are trying to prepare them for the fact that the sentences may not be commensurate with their suffering," said Antoine Casubolo-Ferro, another lawyer for the victims.