Almost six years after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, France on Wednesday started the trial of 20 people accused in the case.
The attacks rolled out in a single night of terror across Paris and at the Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis where three suicide bombers struck outside while a football match was taking place.
Subsequent attacks hit various cafes around Paris, and a third group of attackers carried out a mass shooting and held people hostage during a rock concert at the Bataclan Theater.
The carnage claimed the lives of 130 and left 350 people injured. The Daesh/ISIS terror group claimed responsibility for it.
The trials are being held in a specially built court housed in the Palais de Justice, France’s central courthouse. Preparations have been underway for two years for the largest trial to ever take place in Paris.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Wednesday in an interview with French news outlet France Inter that the “terrorist threat” is “even higher during this period.”
He also discussed both the government’s role and responsibility in thwarting attacks.
-Objectively, I believe that the trial will be an opportunity to tell the truth and also to shed light on the responsibilities of the French state.-
He detailed that since the start of President Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term in office, a total of 36 major attacks have been halted by French intelligence services.
He went on to acknowledge that there are dysfunctions in information gathering that have taken place, and are still evolving.
-We have made a lot of progress- Darmanin said.
Of the 20 people charged over the Nov. 13 attacks, six will be tried in absentia. Twelve of them face life in prison.
Among the defendants is Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving attacker.
More than 300 witnesses will offer testimony over the next nine months. The case file contains over a million pages of documents.
To stem any further threats or violence from taking place, 1,000 police officers have been deployed around the courthouse in what Darmanin has called an “absolutely gigantic effort.” The entire trial will be recorded by eight cameras specially installed in a control room.
A verdict in the case is expected next May.