On November 13, 2015, France suffered its deadliest ever terror attacks since WWII when three teams of jihadists launched simultaneous attacks on the Stade de France national stadium and the Bataclan music hall, as well as several restaurants and bars across central Paris. 130 people were killed and hundreds wounded.
The terror attacks were planned by the Islamic State terror group from Rakka in Syria.
The largest-ever criminal trial in the country opens Wednesday with 20 people facing justice for involvement in the attacks. A trial that is expected to last for nine months.
The trial opens in a specially constructed courtroom in Paris’ Palais de Justice where the 1,800 civil plaintiffs – mainly survivors and relatives of the dead – will tell their story during more than five weeks of hearings.
Among the defendants is the last survivor of the 10-man squad who set out on the evening of the attack.
Salah Abdeslam, 31, was also supposed to blow himself up, but instead he threw away his suicide belt and fled back to Brussels where he was arrested months later. From prison he has said very little, but his questioning will be a key point of the trial.