MM. Hollande and Cazeneuve, quoted by a civil party lawyer, should testify in the afternoon.
On the morning of October 10, the court will hear François Molins, public prosecutor at the court of cassation, one of the highest magistrates in France, also cited at the bar by a civil party lawyer.
MM. Hollande, Cazeneuve and Molins had already testified at the bar of the special assize court during the trial of the November 13 attacks. The former president had notably defended the «commitment of France in the fight against Islamist terrorism, in Mali, Iraq and Syria», in particular against the Islamic State (IS) organization.
IS claimed responsibility for the Nice attack, an «opportunistic» claim according to investigators. No direct link has been found between Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, the driver of the truck that mowed down the crowd gathered on the Promenade des Anglais on the evening of July 14, 2016, causing the death of 86 people, and the jihadist group.
“Even if we feared them, we were not prepared for attacks of such magnitude,” testified François Molins, Paris prosecutor at the time of the attack.