“I continue to fight for the injured”, the hearing broadcast to Perpignan to avoid families having to travel

The appeal trial concerning the Millas tragedy opened this Monday, October 7, 2024 before the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal. The bus accident that occurred in 2017 claimed the lives of six schoolchildren and injured seventeen others, eight of them seriously. The trial, scheduled to last three weeks, is broadcast to the Perpignan judicial court to allow the civil parties to follow the proceedings.

Seven years after the Millas tragedy, the driver’s appeal trial opened at the Aix-en-Provence court, more than 300 kilometers from the scene of the tragedy. In 2017, a collision between a school bus and a TER on a level crossing, in Millas in the Pyrénées-Orientales, caused the death of six schoolchildren and seriously injured eight of the 17 other passengers.

In Perpignan, a courtroom was set up at the judicial court to allow the families of the victims, including those of Yonas, Allan and Teddy, as well as the families of the injured children, to follow the trial live without having to travel in Aix-en-Provence. This retransmission allows the civil parties to remain involved in the trial while avoiding a long and tiring trip.

A color-coded system using laces has been put in place to respect the privacy of families who prefer not to express themselves publicly. France 3 Occitanie noted that few families chose to testify. Only the grandmother of Yonas, aged 11 and who died in the accident, agreed to confide.

I no longer expect anything from this trial. I continue to fight for the wounded, because for the dead, it’s over.

Grandmother of Yonas (died during the tragedy)

During this first day of trial, around 25 people gathered in the courtroom in Perpignan, they were also atwenty young victims and their parents in the courtroom in Aix-en-Provence. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

Written with Sandra Canal.