On March 23, 2018, France discovered the name of Arnaud Beltrame. This gendarmerie lieutenant-colonel, aged 44, had just sacrificed his life to save that of a hostage, held by an Islamist terrorist in a supermarket in Trèbes, in Aude. Hailed by the highest authorities in the country, his heroic act did not surprise the gendarmes who had the opportunity to meet him during his twenty-two year career. “It’s not a gesture that surprised me because it looks so much like him,” explains in particular to 20 minutes Captain Julien, who was under his orders between 2010 and 2014, at the Avranche departmental gendarmerie company, in Manche.
Today a trainer at the EOGN (the national gendarmerie officer school) in Melun, in Seine-et-Marne, Captain Julien remembers Arnaud Beltrame as an “inspiring” leader, “very present », “operational oriented”, “who loved being on the ground with his men”. “He always tried to get the best out of his staff, whose support he had gained. He was someone who was motivating,” he continues. Arnaud Beltrame gave “the best of himself at all times and in all circumstances”. He was also “very sporty”. “He’s someone who ran very well,” he smiles.
An “ambitious leader” and close to his troops
This “ambitious leader” and close to his troops liked to travel “on legal operations”. One of them particularly struck Captain Julien. “During the summer of 2011, I was engaged with other comrades on domestic violence. We learned from the victim, who had taken refuge with a neighbor, that his companion was armed. And the latter is shooting at us. Squadron leader Beltrame, who was on duty, joined us very quickly on the ground. »
The shooter then “retreated to his home” and negotiations were initiated to obtain his surrender. Instead of remaining safe in the operational PC which had been installed a little further away, Arnaud Beltrame preferred to go, “with the negotiators, as close as possible to the house”. “He took me with him,” recalls Captain Julien, who appreciated this mark of “trust”. In the early morning, the madman had surrendered. No one was injured during the operation. Arnaud Beltrame bought breakfast for the gendarmes involved in the mission, “so that we could debrief together and spend this little moment of cohesion after what had just happened. It was his human side. »
“He said to himself that it was up to him to do it”
On the day of the attack in Trèbes, when he learned that a “lieutenant-colonel of the gendarmerie had taken the place of the hostage, the supermarket cashier”, Captain Julien instinctively knew that it was of his former boss. “I told myself it could only be him. Because it looked like him, without exaggerating. He liked to serve people, he was close to the population. » Looking back, he thinks that Arnaud Beltrame, that day, “felt in his place when he did that”. “He figured it was up to him to do it, and otherwise no one else would do it. I think he was convinced of his action. »
At the time of the terrorist attack, Colonel Gay headed the Aude departmental group. “I commanded the operations outside the supermarket and Arnaud Beltrame those which took place inside the building,” he explains to 20 minutes. When he heard, on his radio, that his subordinate had “exchanged himself with the last hostage”, he had the impression of receiving an “uppercut”. “The ground gave way beneath my feet. » This officer had to “find the time”, once the crisis had passed, to “reflect” on the “value of his gesture”.
“A problem between a soldier and a terrorist”
“In retrospect, that doesn’t surprise me about him, it corresponds well to his commitment, to his way of seeing things,” he analyzes today. “By exchanging with the last hostage, he put an end to the crisis,” adds Colonel Gay. There were no more potential civilian casualties. It was a problem between a soldier and a terrorist. He must have thought that he could positively influence the outcome of the crisis, either by facilitating negotiations or by facilitating the intervention of the GIGN. »
Currently deputy director at the DGGN, Colonel Gay had known Arnaud Beltrame for twenty-two years. “I met him in preparatory class, in 1992, at Saint-Cyr. He was a year older than me. » He found his comrade in August 2017, when he became deputy command officer in the Aude gendarmerie group. “He left his mark in a few months, marking all the gendarmes of the group who encountered him,” underlines Colonel Gay. Who remembers “his enthusiasm, his dynamism, his commitment, his love for the profession and for the institution”. “It’s always a real pleasure to have subordinates like that.”