Thalys Train Attack Reconstruction Begins, Key Suspect Present

To succeed, about fifteen witnesses present on the day of the attack in 2015 are expected on board the train, reports dna.fr. They will participate in this reconstruction alongside the defendant, Ayoub El-Khazzani, with the exception of the three American heroes who had subdued the suspect at the time.

Requested for the first time in August 2018 by Ayoub El-Khazzani’s lawyer, Sarah Mauger-Poliak, the investigating judges had opposed a dismissal and had considered that such an act could not "actively and really participate in the manifestation of the truth".

This refusal coincided at the time with the release in France of the film "The 15:17 to Paris", recounting the attack and directed by Clint Eastwood. The counsel of the accused did not hesitate to react. She had mentioned "a serious attack on the serenity of justice" and "on the fairness of the debates".

According to the same media, the lawyer’s request was finally accepted following the request of Ayoub El-Khazzani. The latter acknowledged his involvement in the attack before a magistrate in December 2016.

On that deadly August 21, 2015, this young Moroccan, then 26 years old, had opened fire on a Thalys Amsterdam-Paris train, shortly after entering France, armed with a Kalashnikov and nine full magazines.

On the orders of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the coordinator of the November 13 attacks, the suspect had wounded two passengers before being overpowered by American soldiers on vacation, avoiding a potential massacre, three months before the deadly raid of the November 13 commandos in Paris.