At the specially composed assize court in Paris
In the testimonies of the survivors, they were until then “silhouettes in white tracksuits”, “bald skulls” glimpsed furtively, sadistic smiles or “inhuman robots without expression”. Sometimes named, sometimes barely mentioned, the three terrorists of the Bataclan have haunted for several weeks the story of the survivors who march to the bar at the trial of the November 13 attacks.
That evening, Guillaume for his part plunged his gaze into that of the jihadist Samy Amimour. Facing the court, the young man with fine features and loose brown hair straight away: “I am the one the terrorist was aiming at on the stage and I was saved at the last minute. “Heard this Tuesday afternoon, Guillaume delivered the story of his chilling face-to-face with one of the perpetrators of the killing.
“Without them, I probably won’t be here”
From his first words, and with a calm that will not leave him throughout his testimony, Guillaume wishes to salute the intervention of the BAC police officers, who arrived twelve minutes after the start of the attack. “Without them, I probably won’t be here. When the chaos starts, the 21-year-old finds himself to the left of the stage, in the pit. In a corner, he sees a “pile of chairs and boxes” under which he tries to take refuge. When two of the three terrorists go up to the balcony overlooking the room, Guillaume – like many spectators – sees the opportunity to flee. “Except that I hear footsteps on a wooden staircase. I see the third terrorist, who will turn out to be Samy Amimour, ”he says in a calm voice. Their eyes meet then. “A charged look”, will explain Guillaume, in which he understands that the jihadist “will not kill him”. “Or at least not now. “
Summoned to get up and follow him on the stage, Guillaume remains frozen for a second. An attitude which “excites” the terrorist: “He became more strict, and said to me:” Get up, otherwise I will shoot you in the head “. So far, the student has managed to save himself from the carnage that has been going on for long minutes in the concert hall. “I find myself on the side of the stage, arms in the air and that’s when I see the extent of the damage,” he slips modestly.
The “calm” and “relaxed” attitude of Amimour deeply marks Guillaume: “He had a rather nonchalant walk and his manner of holding the weapon particularly marked me. He held it by the butt and swung it as if he were holding a toy. “On the scene, the jihadist gives confused orders to his hostage:” He asks me to go and pick up an old person crouching in the pit and who was looking in our direction. He said to me “Help this son of a bitch get up and we’ll see if he’s dead.” (…) He himself seemed to be improvising on how I was going to be used ”.
A “fundamental meeting”
At the entrance of the room, two men, a commissioner of the BAC and his brigadier teammate are about to overturn the attack. Posted about thirty meters from the scene, the two police officers see Guillaume, held in play by Amimour. Guillaume advanced “by walking, almost resigned, his hands on his head and he began to kneel,” said the commissioner during his hearing on September 22. A story completed this Tuesday by the student: “I see two shadows at the back of the room. I quickly understood that they were police officers but I could not explain why. I saw a shard coming out of a pistol (…) the shots were aimed at the terrorist. “Touched by the police, Samy Amimour collapses. Guillaume, he takes the opportunity to flee once and for all.
In his race, he feels the “breath” of a “big explosion” at the level of his legs. The terrorist’s explosive vest has just gone off, the walls of the concert hall are shaking. Guillaume thinks of a grenade, thrown from the balcony by Amimour’s accomplices. The BAC commissioner imagines that Guillaume did not survive the explosion. But a week after the attack, the official manages to contact the young man. A “fundamental meeting” for the survivor, who did not benefit from any psychological follow-up. “It helped me a lot. He was a savior during the attack but also afterwards. “