(Radio France) This has been a difficult week at the Special Criminal Court, where the men suspected of involvement or complicity in the November 2015 terrorist attacks are being tried. The hearings have been devoted to the final observations from lawyers representing the survivors and the relatives of the bereaved.
The legal profession, like every other, is a mixed bag. So many different personalities, so many different styles. We have been harangued, cajoled, seduced, surprised and, even, spoken to normally. The closing summaries have ranged from the excessively theatrical to the conversational. The language has veered from inspired to bog-standard banal.
The court president, Jean-Louis Périès, has kept his thoughts to himself. He has been unfailingly polite.
The accused have sat, calm or comatose, through it all.
