We tried everything to prevent Paris attacks, ex-president Hollande tells court
Former French president François Hollande was Wednesday's only witness before the special criminal court where 20 men are being tried for their alleged involvement in the November 2015 Paris terrorist massacres. He answered questions, calmly and frankly, for over six hours.
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There were two major lines of questioning.
Did the French security forces fail by underestimating the level of terrorist threat facing the nation in late 2015? And, did France provoke that year's November attacks by an illegal intervention against Islamic State on Syrian soil?
François Hollande, who was president at the time of the attacks, addressed both questions at length. But his answers can fairly be summarised as "no" and "no".
We nearly didn't get to hear him at all.
Before the former leader could be called to the bar, there was a lengthy legal debate about the usefulness of the evidence he was likely to give. After two hours of verbal clashes and a long suspension to allow the tribunal to adjudicate, Hollande finally began to testify.
Dressed in a dark grey suit, white shirt and blue tie, wearing the tiny French flag of the presidential standard in his left buttonhole, Hollande solemnly expressed his sympathies with the families of the dead and injured.
He said he was prepared to answer all questions honestly, without reserve.
He stressed the importance of this trial as part of the democratic effort against "an ideology which detests our way of life, a vision of the world in which joy is regarded as an aberration, a crime.
"I am ready to answer your questions."
Six hours of dignity
Hollande was clear on the crucial questions. France had been right to join the international coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The legitimate government in Baghdad called for military help. France responded to protect democratic principles, not commercial or industrial interests. "We went in to support the values we stand for, our way of life, against a regime of barbarity and fear."
The Syrian attacks were launched against a more complex, but no less legal, background.
"In Syria," François Hollande told the court, "I waited until France had the right to invoke action in legitimate self-defence. Islamic State repeatedly named France as an enemy target." The attacks were planned in Syria, the attackers trained there.
"I gave orders intended to ensure the minimum amount of collateral damage. Civilians were never targeted."
The former president confirmed that the first French airstrikes on Syrian targets were on 27 September 2015.
He noted that, at that stage, the planning for the Paris killings, avowedly to avenge civilian deaths in Syria, would already have been far advanced.
"I would do exactly the same thing if I had to do it again," Hollande said of his decisions to engage national forces in a faraway war. "I did it in the name of suffering peoples."
'Yes, there were security failures'
The former president was categoric on the question of the level of terrorist threat facing France in the autumn of 2015.
"Since the attacks took place, there were obviously security failures. We didn't prevent them.
"We knew there was a terrorist threat. But we had no idea when or where or how or by whom that would become a real danger.
"I asked for the maximum effort from our intelligence and police services. And they did exemplary work.
"I would tell you if I had the slightest doubt about the steps we took to protect our people. Short of closing all sports and social venues, shutting down the nation . . . and even then.
"We did everything we could have done. But we didn't have the decisive information that could have identified either the targets or the attackers.
"I realise how much suffering that has caused."
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