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Chapter Five - The ‘Trials for History’

A New Paradigm for the Prosecution of Mass Crimes?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2026

Sharon Weill
Affiliation:
The American University of Paris, France
Denis Salas
Affiliation:
French National School of Magistrates
Antoine Mégie
Affiliation:
Université de Rouen
Christiane Bésnier
Affiliation:
Sorbonne University
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Summary

Although criminal trials are primarily designed to repress individual acts, a new role has emerged with the third generation of jihadist trials. They have become a ‘forum’, giving voice to different actors in order to reconstruct a socio-historical phenomenon in all its complexity, as we have seen with truth commissions in post-conflict countries. These trials have become a space where the defendants recount their path to radicalization, the victims relate their trauma and expectations, the experts situate the phenomenon in a political, social and medical context, and the police and security services expose their work and their difficulties. The rich narratives exposed by the different stakeholders, and most notably by hundreds of victims, are at the center of this organic process, which is being constantly developed by the actors themselves. Obviously, the trial was strictly framed by criminal law procedure, but this framework was partly circumvented, enriched, and even subverted during the trial. This chapter discusses the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan trials and the emergence of a hybrid procedure, which introduced important elements of restorative justice.

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