This week, Eagle of Death frontman Jesse Hughes, 49, will give his version of events from the night of the Paris attacks in 2015, when the Bataclan Theater, where he played, was attacked by terrorists.
He is expected to share details of how he briefly came face to face with one of the armed men, but fortunately escaped.
The band’s former guitarist, 52-year-old Eden Galindo and 39-year-old Matt McGunkins, who played bass that night, will also testify before a Paris court in one of France’s biggest lawsuits.
They are expected to talk about the horrific events that occurred when the jihadists stormed the hall and the impact that the traumatic event had on their lives.
The night of November 13, 2015 is the worst terrorist attack in France, Islamic extremists wearing suicide vests entered Bataklan after the band had just started playing “Kiss the Devil” and opened fire on the crowd, killing 90 .
Members of the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal will testify before a French court about their experience on November 13, 2015, when the Bataclan concert hall, in which they participated, was attacked by Islamic armed men
Frontman Jesse Hughes (pictured: right, next to guitarist Dave Ketching at a memorial in front of the Bataclan Concert Hall) will describe in court how he came face to face with one of the terrorists this week
The group had not been on stage for a long time (pictured) when the three armed men opened fire on the crowd, which some confused as a malfunction of the speaker or pyrotechnics initially.
The armed men who stormed Bataklan were killed in the attack, but there are 14 defendants in the trial.
However, only one is accused of direct involvement – 31-year-old Salah Abdeslam, who is said to have left a suicide belt in front of the Stade de France.
The others are accused of lesser terrorist crimes. The process, which began in September, is expected to end at the end of next month.
“I saw the expressions on all those faces in front of me,” said former guitarist Galindo. ‘[The audience] they didn’t know what was going on, they couldn’t see anything. They were pushed against each other, and then against the stage.
31-year-old Salah Abdeslam (pictured) is the only surviving member of the attackers who hit Paris
“It’s hard to go back to all this,” he told the Journal di Dimanche. “I’ve been trying not to think about it all these years.” As he writes the statement, he will read it in court.[took] to return to the emotions that overwhelmed me after the attacks. “
Galindo said he was still struggling to forgive the culprits, although he thought that was the right thing to do.
He added: “The road is long and I hope to get there one day. But today I still feel so angry with them.
Hughes’s frontman, a gun enthusiast, immediately knew what was happening when he heard the first of about 50 shots – unlike his bandmates and members of the audience, who thought it could be pyrotechnics, crackers or a speaker malfunction.
The singer was the first to realize and called on his teammates to run.
He, Galindo and drummer Julian Dorio managed to escape safely through the door behind the scenes, but guitarist Dave Ketching and bassist Matt McJunkins failed to escape.
The catch hid itself in the cabin in the bathroom, while McJunkins hid in the locker room with several fans.
A memorial plaque and flowers were placed at the entrance of the Bataclan Concert Hall (pictured) in 2018 in memory of the 130 people who died on the third anniversary of the Paris attacks.
An eyewitness said he heard gunmen wondering where Eagles of Death Metal members were after the shooting stopped.
Hughes remembered his escape and how he came face to face with one of the armed men.
“I saw the shooter.” He turned and dropped the gun on me, but the barrel hit the door frame, “Hughes told Vice in an interview shortly after the event.
The group’s merchandising manager Nick Alexander, 35, of Essex, has died – the only Briton killed the same night that killed 130 people.
Testifying in October, his sister, Zoe Alexander, told defendants in the trial that while her family “regrets what you did, we don’t hate you.”
The members of the group are among more than 2,000 people who have received the status of civil parties – those who, under French law, have suffered physical or mental harm as a result of a crime.
As such, they don’t limit themselves to describing the horrors of that night, but they can talk more about their feelings. Some read from long-written statements.
Their testimonies were mixed with those of politicians, police and other experts, who gave an idea of how the attack on the Franco-Belgian jihadist group was organized by ISIL from its headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
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