Simon Fieschi, who was seriously injured on January 7, 2015 during the attack on Charlie Hebdo, died at the age of 40.
He was the first to be targeted by the Kouachi brothers’ shots in the newspaper’s premises. This January 7, 2015, a bullet crosses his spinal cord. Simon Fieschithen webmaster at Charlie Hebdo, was close to death but survived his injuries. “Iemerges from the coma, gradually, on January 14. It’s my mother who tells me what happened, who is dead, alive or injured. At the same time I am learning Montrouge, the Hyper Cacher “, he described in 2020 in an article in Charlie Hebdo. “I can’t move or speak, just blink to communicate. I have tubes throughout my body, a machine that breathes for me. […] I couldn’t escape the pain. It was so intense that I would have died for it to stop. »
Paralyzed, it took him several years to be able to walk again. For his doctor, he is “a miracle”. Father of a 5-year-old girl, the 41-year-old man today used a crutch to get around. But nothing stopped his fight and his thirst for justice. Last September, he still attended the trial of Peter Cherif, sentenced to life in prison at the beginning of October for his role played Yemen with Chérif Kouachi.
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After the hearings, Simon Fieschi declared: “ I read the file, I saw the more or less contradictory debates. Sometimes, although I have been frustrated by the non-answers, I have also been attentive to the way those non-answers have been delivered “. Four years earlier, in 2020, he was already at the forefront of the Charlie Hebdo attacks trial. Standing because he did not want to testify seated, he said in the courtroom: “ That ball didn’t miss me, but it didn’t get me.” « Time helps, but it does not erase the fact that we were massacred with machine guns,” he then confided to France Inter. However, he said he was finally calm: “I managed to adapt my life to be happy with it. And I would say that’s been a big part of the work over the last five years.”
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François Hollande’s tribute
This Saturday, October 19, his relatives announced his death which occurred during the night of Thursday to Friday. On X (formerly Twitter), François Hollande, president at the time of the attack, paid tribute to him. “ Survivor of the attack on Charlie, Simon Fieschi struggled to overcome the horror of which he had been one of the victims. There are scars that many no longer see but which never heal. I will never forget Simon. I send my affection to his family,” he wrote.
“I remember your moving testimony in 2020. The rage to live despite everything. Your courage and resilience will be remembered forever. Hoping that it will be less hard up there, your memory in us down here. Peace to your soul Simon Fieschi,” responded MP Olivia Grégoire. “Thoughts of Simon Fieschi, his loved ones and all the victims of terrorism. Current and past,” declared the spokesperson for the national police.
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“An investigation into the causes of death was opened following the discovery of the body of Simon Fieschi on October 17,” the prosecution told AFP, which clarified that “no hypothesis” could be be preferred at this stage. According to a source close to the case, his body was found Thursday in a hotel room in Paris. He was 40 years old. “Contrary to what has been announced by certain media, there is no element in favor of a voluntary action at this stage of the investigations and the causes of death are still currently unknown”, underlined for her part Me Nathalie Senyk, calling on “everyone to be particularly vigilant before the final outcome of the investigation”.
