2023-08-09 14:43:00
Jaana Mettälä, victim of the attacks of March 22, 2016 in Maelbeek, was very present during the seven months of the trial of the attacks, currently on break before the assizes before resuming in September for the debates on the sentences.
“If we did the math, maybe I’ll get the medal,” she laughs when pointed out. Initially, it was not a decision on her part: “I was present much more than I would have imagined”, says this woman, now 51, who returns, for La Libre, to the trial.
On March 22, 2016, Jaana Mettälä, 28 weeks pregnant, was on her way to the metro to work at the European Commission. She takes the metro at Beaulieu station. On the very short trip, she receives a WhatsApp message from a cousin in Sweden, indicating that there has been an attack in Zaventem. She searches her phone, talks to relatives and learns that there have been two explosions.
I said to myself: “Tomorrow I won’t take the metro but I didn’t think of getting off the train”. His office is in Maelbeek. She leaves the subway, meets a colleague on the platform and heads for the escalator. This one is broken down and barricaded. The two women then head for the stairs. As they prepare to go up, it’s an explosion.
“I fell and I got up. And there I was surrounded by flames. I was like in a ball of fire. I understood what had happened. I might not believe it.” She understands that she must flee. “I was like, ‘If there’s a second explosion, it’s over’.”
Jaana Mettälä manages to reach her office: “The only thing that interested me was getting to work, from where someone was going to take me to the hospital to check that my child was fine”. After a seemingly endless wait, an ambulance comes to pick her up. She is seriously burned on her hands, but also on her legs and face. His hands were saved thanks to the insight of a doctor.
Four months of hospitalization
She remains hospitalized for four months. The priority is her child because, due to the risk of infections from burns, it is feared that she may have to give birth prematurely. She fights. It was at the hospital that his daughter Maylie was born on June 1.
She will have a second child in 2019, Mathias, born on November 13, the anniversary of the Paris attacks. It was during this second pregnancy that post-traumatic stress emerged. After the attacks, “I was so focused on my physical recovery, my rehabilitation and my future daughter that there was not much room for post-traumatic stress”.
The trial is coming. In the summer of 2022, the lawyers of Life4Brussels, of which she is a member, indicate that the victims will be able to express themselves at the trial. “I didn’t hesitate for long. I said to myself right away, ‘No matter how difficult this is for me, it will be a test. I have to do it’.”
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At the end of December, she went to trial for the first time. It’s the slap. We then evoke the facts in Zaventem.
“I felt, all the time, even though it was hard, heavy, painful and tiring that I needed to do this. I was shaken in every way. But I needed it. I had – and still have – a lot of grief and pain for those who died. It’s a pain that affects me a lot. I have met relatives of deceased persons. It moved me emotionally. I wanted to convey all my compassion and empathy.”
Meetings that enrich
She repeats: “The encounters at the trial have enriched me”. Photos and videos are shown at the trial. We see the victims, the mutilated body. We also show their photos when they were full of life. “I looked at them: it was as if I recognized how they had left. I mightn’t close my eyes. These victims had asked for nothing. It was extremely shocking.”
“I went every day for the testimonies of the victims. I was overwhelmed by all this suffering”
In February, we talk regarding Maelbeek. She knows where she was. She realizes how close she was to the suicide bomber. We have indeed shown a photo of the trash can where the head of the terrorist was projected. It was at the bottom of the stairs. Another shot shows the suicide bomber’s hand near Jaana’s umbrella. “I once more thank my guardian angels for still being alive and for not having received metal objects in the body. It was clear how close I had been to impact.”
“At trial, meetings are a wealth, she reframes once more. I went there every day for the testimonies of the victims. I was overwhelmed by all this suffering.”
Because, she repeats: “At the beginning, you come for yourself. I know what I’ve been through, but I need to know a little more. Afterwards, we need to see what everyone has been through”.
Maylie and Mathias, Jaana’s two children at the Memorial to the attacks in the Soignes forest. “This place gives me strength. I am committed in a way to do what I can so that these people are not forgotten”, says Jaana Mettälä. ©DR
At the end of March, it is her turn to be called to the bar. “I had invested a lot in my testimony, which was very long. My sister came from Sweden. She testified following me, in Swedish.”
She shows photos of her injuries, taken when she was hospitalized. “I had hesitated, but it was my reality and you can’t see that now. So I made this choice, for the jury”.
“If we don’t have these testimonies, the trial is completely sterile: we talk regarding the investigation, we hear experts, we question the accused. But we have to hear the victims. And congratulate those who had the courage to speak. One does not speak only in one’s own name. If I testified, it is not for the defendants but for the jury”
Jaana Mettälä does not feel the guilt felt by some victims. “The culprits are those who acted and planned. There’s no other guilt to be had, although it’s easy to say so,” she says.
She is convinced of the importance of testimonies, which are only a very small part of the victims of the attacks. “If we don’t have these testimonies, the trial is completely sterile. We talk regarding the investigation, we hear from experts, we question the accused. But we must listen to the victims. And congratulate those who had the courage to speak. We don’t just speak in our own name. If I testified, it was not for the defendants, but for the jury.”
Before the trial, she had thought very little of the defendants. “I had not given them this place. It’s not that they didn’t exist, but I hadn’t paid much attention to the perpetrators and defendants. The first time, it made an impact on me to see them,” she says.
And she insists: “This is an essential point for me, we easily tend – I hear it around me – to see them as a group: they are all murderers and they should die in prison. Without knowing the substance of the case, it can be difficult to understand the final decision of the jury”.
With the trial, she says once more, “I manage to see the difference between individuals, it’s not a collective”.
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Krayem’s Silence
She had no expectations of the defendants’ words. “But, as some spoke, I might hear them, even though it’s unclear if they were telling the truth.” She keeps frustrated. Osama Krayem did not speak. She regrets it all the more since, like her, he is Swedish and is the most concerned with the metro. “Abrini spoke regarding Zaventem. I said to myself that only Krayem might perhaps explain certain things regarding that morning. But it is his right: he decided not to speak and not to defend himself.
June, with the indictment, the pleadings of the civil parties and the defence, was difficult. “It’s a bit of a roller coaster. Sometimes it’s hard to stay calm. One wonders how the jury will appreciate these elements.
“I said to myself, I’m not going to put my life on hold for the trial, but I did,” she explains. When there were interruptions at the trial, she was at work. His companion took great care of the children. “But I did what I needed to do. I am sure of it.”
The trial is on hiatus ahead of sentencing. “We move on to something other than the trial, yes. But we are not moving on to anything other than March 22, no. It’s part of me. It’s not just in the past. It’s in the present and in the future and you have to manage it in your daily life.”
Will she come when the debate resumes? “I’m hesitating because I have to manage my energy, my health and the daily life that is picking up. But I might find it difficult not to go,” she said with a burst of laughter.
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