“It was fear in me”: the cartoonist of the weekly Charlie Hebdo Corinne Rey, known as “Coco”, told Tuesday at the trial of the January 2015 attacks how she “thought to die executed”, after being put played by the Kouachi brothers.
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This January 7, 2015, she had left the weekly editorial conference in the satirical newspaper to go down to “smoke a cigarette” when the “two terrorists (…) emerged from the corridor calling + Coco, Coco +”, has t – it told before the special court of assizes of Paris.
Pointed out by Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, “two strong men, armed to the teeth” who told her “+ We want Charlie weekly, we want Charb +”, she leads them to the entrance of the editorial staff, mistaking first floor.
“I thought I would die executed here,” “Coco” said, her voice broken with emotion at the stand.
“I was devastated, I had a dazzling thought for my little girl, I was like dispossessed of myself, I was getting nowhere. I went to the code and typed it in, ”explained the designer, who still works at Charlie Hebdo.
“I felt the terrorists were approaching their goal, I felt an excitement beside me. I was pushed inside the editorial office, I moved forward like an automaton, ”she continued.
She then took refuge under a desk, from where she “heard what was happening, heard the shots”. “After the shooting, there was a silence, a silence of death,” said Corinne Rey, civil party at the trial.
“I felt helpless. It is the helplessness that is the hardest part in what happened. And I felt guilty “, she noted, adding however:” But the only culprits are the Islamist terrorists. The Kouachi brothers and those who helped them. “
The attack on the premises of Charlie Hebdo claimed ten victims, including iconic cartoonists Charb, Cabu, and Wolinski.
The hearings of the survivors of this attack, a highlight of this historic trial, must continue in the afternoon and Wednesday.
Fourteen people are being prosecuted before the Assize Court for their logistical support to the perpetrators of the attacks against Charlie Hebdo, a policewoman from Montrouge and the Hyper Cacher store. Three of them are judged by default.
The attacks, which marked the start of a bloody series of jihadist attacks, killed 17 people and caused fear in France and around the world.