Paris attacks trial: Young son of Bataclan victim calls suspect a 'rotten banana'

Pictures of victims are placed behind candles outside the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.
Pictures of victims are placed behind candles outside the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. Copyright AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File
By AFP with Euronews
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The five-year-old boy's testimony was read out in court at the landmark trial in the 2015 terror attacks.

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"They are as rotten as a rotten banana. They killed my daddy."

The words of a five-year-old boy whose father died in the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

Given his age, Etienne was not present at the special court of assizes in Paris, where fourteen people are on trial over the deadliest attacks in France since World War II.

But the boy's moving words were read out in court by his family's lawyer Manon Cournac on Thursday.

Etienne's father, Antoine, was one of 90 people who were killed in the Bataclan concert hall during the terror attacks on 13 November 2015.

Antoine and Aurore, the boy's mother, were both present for an Eagles of Death Metal concert when the venue was stormed by terrorists of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group. Aurore, who was two months pregnant, survived after being held hostage by the attackers.

Etienne was born seven months later in May 2016 and has grown up never knowing his father.

"To the attention of the defendants: they are as rotten as a rotten banana," he wrote, according to Cournac.

"They killed my daddy and that's really not good. They must not be fed anymore so that they die. I want them to die because they are really horrible. I'm angry because they're bad."

The testimonies of the survivors and relatives of the 130 victims of the attacks have been a cruel reminder of how many families were shattered in November 2015.

"The loss of Antoine is so powerful that it almost takes over," Aurore told the court.

"Your hatred will never taint our love and intelligence of the heart. You are nothing and we are everything else. We will continue to fight, day after day."

Members of the Eagles of Death Metal also gave emotional testimony about the Bataclan assault on Tuesday.

Salah Abdeslam is the sole surviving member of the IS terrorist cell that carried out the Paris attacks. All other suspects were killed during the attacks by French police or detonated suicide devices.

The unprecedented trial in France is expected to conclude in June.

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