NICE, France (AP) – Bastille Day on the French Riviera.
The lawyer walked along the river boulevard in Nice with his mother, friends and a colleague to celebrate France’s national day. Four young women from Poland spent the day touring. Two Russian students are on summer vacation. And a Texas family vacationing with their kids spotted some of the classic European landscapes. The bright lights of the crowded boardwalk gleamed across the bay like a string of stars.
These lights marked the path of slaughter and destruction on the night of July 14, 2016. Shortly after the fireworks, a 19-tonne (21 US-tonne) truck drove 2 kilometers (1¼ miles) through the crowd like a snowplow, knocking people down.
The final death toll was 86 people, including 15 children and teenagers, and 450 people were injured.
On Monday, eight people will be tried in a special terror court in France accused of aiding the attacker Mohamed Lauayège Boulel, who left a terrible mark on 15 city blocks. Buchel himself was killed by the police that same night.
“It’s like a battlefield,” said Jean-Claude Hubler, who survived Thursday’s horrific attack. As he ran to the pier to help, he heard the helpless cries of happy, laughing and dancing people on the beach.
“There are people all over the world, some still alive and screaming,” Hubler said. As he waited for the ambulances to arrive, he knelt down next to a dying man and woman on the bloodstained pavement surrounded by rubble and mutilated bodies.
“I held your hand with my last breath,” Hubler said.
Beautiful Assault Hits Ultimate Soft Target: Outdoor Holiday Celebration https://t.co/qe6iw5UlxI pic.twitter.com/tJ26qrh9SH
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 16 July 2016
The three suspects were charged with conspiring with a terrorist organization for alleged ties to the aggressor. The five are facing other charges, including alleged supplying weapons to the attacker. If found guilty, they are sentenced to 5 years to life in prison. A decision is expected in December.
Investigators found no evidence that any of the suspects was directly involved in the bloody riot on that hot summer night of 2016.
Buchel, a 31-year-old Tunisian living in France, was the sole aggressor and was solely responsible for the deaths of 86 people, 33 of whom were foreigners from Poland, the USA, Russia, Algeria, Tunisia, Switzerland and other countries.
Lawyer Miriam Bellazuz lives a few blocks from the Nice promenade. She was walking with her mother the night of the attack and was killed. Friends and colleagues spent three days frantically searching the traumatized city, pleading on social media to find his remains.
Of the four Chrzanowski brothers on vacation in Poland, only two made it back home safely.
As the truck drove through the crowd, Moscow student Victoria Savachenko died when she couldn’t find time to get off the road. Sean Copeland, an American father from a town near Austin, Texas, was also killed in the attack, along with his 11-year-old son, Brody.
Christophe Lyon is the only survivor of a large French family that gathered in Nice for Bastille Day celebrations. His parents, Giselle and Germaine Lyon, his wife Veronica, his parents François and Christiane Locatelli, and grandchildren Mikael Pellegrini were killed in the attack. Lyon was among the dozens of witnesses, survivors, and family members of the victims who testified at a Paris court later this month about the horrific events of that night.
Police talk about encounter with cute truck killer https://t.co/mA7lVFxZD7 pic.twitter.com/UufiQf0VL9
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 18 July 2016
ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacre. But French prosecutors said investigators found no evidence that the attack was orchestrated by ISIS, although Buchel was inspired by the extremist group’s propaganda.
On 13 November 2015, eight months before the Nice attack, a group of 20 battle-hardened Islamic State extremists spread across Paris to launch coordinated attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, cafe and national stadium, killing 130 people and injuring hundreds.
The sole survivor of a group of murderers who terrorized the French capital, Salah Abdeslam, was found guilty of murder in June after a nine-month trial and was sentenced to life without parole for the deadliest attack. -The peacetime offensive in the history of France.
The trial of the eight suspects in the Nice attack will take place in the same Paris courtroom as Abdeslam’s trial. French law mandates that terrorism cases be held in the capital.
The trial will be broadcast live at the Acropolis Convention Center in Nice for the victims’ families and the general public not traveling to Paris. An audio recording of the test will also be available online with a 30-minute delay.
Muslims were real victims of Nice attack, BBC https://t.co/zOqdHa95Ow explains pic.twitter.com/AGP61PrbEU
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 18 July 2016
Many survivors and mourners prepare to relive traumatic events during the trial. For others, the process was an opportunity to speak publicly about their personal fears they committed that night, even if still far from a city stunned by bloodshed and loss, and listen to the myriad acts of courage, humanity, and compassion for strangers.
Few expect justice when the guilty dies.
Having lost her twin sister, Laura, Audrey Borla travels to Paris to meet with a group of eight suspects. She wants to tell them how she spent six years without the woman she calls her “soul mate” and how she plans to live a fulfilling life for many years without her.
In an interview with France 3 TV channel, Borla said, “You took my brother from me, but you will not prevent me from living.”
“You can’t give me my life.”
Poland: multiculturalism, immigration and political correctness responsible for a major attack https://t.co/ZYRKU5nuh9 pic.twitter.com/mRDQ2FEF6F
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 16 July 2016
Nicolas Vaux-Montagny reports from Paris. Oleg Četinich contributed from Paris.
Source: Breitbart
