“You want me to kill you ?”: what Arnaud Beltrame and the terrorist said to each other on the day of the Trèbes and Carcassonne attacks

A stamp in homage to Colonel Arnaud Beltrame printed in Boulazac in Dordogne. France Bleu Perigord – Thibault Delmarle

For three days, the trial of people accused of having helped Radouane Lakdim during the attacks in Trèbes and Carcassonne, in Aude, has been held. This Wednesday, January 24, 2024, an investigator reported the conversation between Arnaud Beltrame and the terrorist recorded by a telephone.

The trial of the attacks in Trèbes and Carcassonne, in Aude, is eagerly awaited. Six years later, seven people, six men and one woman, have appeared before the special Paris Assize Court since Monday, January 22. While the exchange between Julie, hostage, and Arnaud Beltrame, gendarme, the words between Radouane Lakdim and the soldier were recorded with the latter's cell phone, indicate our colleagues from  < em>L'Independent.

"You are ready to die for France ?"

This conversation was therefore recorded and then transcribed into a report. This was possible thanks to the cell phone of Julie Lavaud, hostage of Radouane Lakdim, who then spoke with gendarme Arnaud Beltrame.

"You want me to kill you ? You are ready to die for France ?" , these were the words of the terrorist. To which the man who was subsequently killed replied: "I'm putting down my radio, look. Release this lady, okay". The assailant asked Arnaud Beltrame the same question: "You want me to kill you ?".

The response is just as heroic as his action. "I just want to talk to this lady," he insisted. It was an investigator who reported these exchanges this Wednesday during the trial.

During the change between Julie Lavand and the soldier, Radouane Lakdim will even go so far as to question the latter about his hierarchical position. &quot ;Oh what rank are you ?", he asked her after ordering her to disarm, underlines The Independent. "Lieutenant-colonel all the same", proudly responded Arnaud Beltrame.

Modesty and discretion

The day before the trial of the accomplices of the terrorist who murdered her husband opened at the Paris Special Assize Court, Marielle Beltrame remains faithful to her attitude since this terrible crime . Discreet, withdrawn, beyond sorrow and mourning.

"It’is my nature" does she simply slip into this short exchange, exclusively for Midi Libre. The pain of having lost her husband, Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, on March 23, 2018, whom she was to marry religiously that summer, is still acute. Because of this suffering, she decided not to attend these five weeks of hearing.

"I always imagine the worst"

Julie, 46 years old, also has difficulty speaking. On the phone, the voice is blank, interspersed with silence. "Today, my daily life has calmed down, I got married, life should be easy… And it’s now that I realize the after-effects I’m carrying. I have nightmares, I have trouble concentrating, and I always imagine the worst. I fight against this feeling of the catastrophe that will fall on me. It sounds crazy to say that I'm still in a state of panic, no ? But it's true."