November 2015 Paris attacks: Landmark trial draws to a close

The trial over the November 2015 terrorist attacks is the largest in French history to date, involving over a million pages of evidence, some 2,500 plaintiffs, more than 300 lawyers and 20 defendants. We spoke to the partner of a victim, a lawyer and a court reporter who have all been following the trial for the past 10 months.

On that dreadful evening, Aurélie Silvestre was 34. The mother of a 3-year-old boy and five months pregnant with a little girl, she stayed home that night, instead of accompanying her partner, Matthieu Giroud, to the Bataclan concert hall. He was killed there by jihadists.

Victor Edou doesn’t normally practice law involving criminal terrorists. But after nearly losing a friend at the Bataclan, he offered to represent civil plaintiffs in the trial. Working with a collective of lawyers, he pleaded the case of some of the victims.

Michael Fitzpatrick is a journalist at RFI, FRANCE 24's sister radio channel. He’s been following the trial from within the hallowed halls of the special Paris courthouse built to accommodate it.

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