Jean-Louis Périès, presiding judge in November 13 attacks trial: 'It's impossible to move on, it stays with you for life'

Judge Jean-Louis Périès, in Paris, on October 15, 2025. STÉPHANE GEUFROI / OUEST-FRANCE / MAXPPP

On the evening of November 13, 2015, after a hearing at the criminal court of Bobigny, a northeastern Paris suburb, Jean-Louis Périès played volleyball with friends. Six years later, he presided over "V13," the marathon trial of 20 defendants for their involvement in the attacks that struck Paris and Saint-Denis (northeast of Paris) that night. Now an honorary hudge, he looked back on the trial of a lifetime in a book published at the end of October, Intime conviction ("Inner Conviction," untranslated). Four years on, it still has not left him.

How long did it take you to move on from V13?

I'm not sure I've managed to do that yet. I think that after the 10th anniversary [of the attacks], it will be easier, it will be more obvious. For now, between the conferences, trips abroad to train judges in counterterrorism, the commemorations, and the book, I'm still in it.

How does one become the presiding judge of such a trial?