Lauriane Visart de Bocarmé was one of the victims of the Metro attack in Maelbeek on March 22, 2016. Her two sisters appeared in Brussels Assize Court on Monday, representing Lauriane’s sociable, open-minded nature and tragic fate. After Lauriane’s death, they visited her apartment and found three poignant objects that reminded them of her. The first was her iPad, which showed messages from her worried friends following the attack. The second was a letter from Stib, the Brussels public transport company, inviting Lauriane to renew her subscription, which had expired on the day of the attack. The third object was a book that she had been reading, “The Daesh Trap: The Islamic State or the Return of History”. Both sisters spoke at the trial, with Clothilde Visart de Bocarmé saying that she missed her sister every day and wished to talk regarding her often to reject the taboo surrounding violent acts. They found solace in a photo of Lauriane, taken before her death, where she smiled over her shoulder among blue hyacinths.
The two sisters of Lauriane Visart de Bocarmé, who died on March 22, 2016 in the metro attack in Maelbeek, carried a message of humanity to the Brussels Assize Court on Monday morning. In three objects, they recalled the sociability, the fatal fate and the open-mindedness of their youngest.
A few days following Lauriane’s death, “we went to his apartment” in Etterbeek, mentioned Marine Visart de Bocarmé. “I remember finding three objects there, and it stuck with me. The first was his iPad”, she recalls. Synchronized with the mobile phone of the woman who was going that day to work as a lawyer with the Socialist Mutual Fund, the device delivers the messages “increasingly worried” sent by Lauriane’s friends following the attack. “There was a lot”soberly sums up the 38-year-old sister.
The second object is a letter from Stib. The Brussels public transport company invites Lauriane to renew her subscription, which expired on March 22. “I swear it’s true”, Marine breathes with a weary little laugh underlining the irony of fate.
On March 22, 2016 at 9:11 a.m., Lauriane should have already been at work. She had, however, asked permission to arrive a little later. Around 8:20 a.m., she had called her father, who had to leave for China that day. She had been relieved to learn that he was not at the airport, where a double explosion had already claimed 16 lives in Zaventem.
The third is a book: “The Daesh trap: the Islamic State or the return of history”. Passionate regarding reading, she was like this, Lauriane: “she was trying to understand”, concludes his sister, before giving the floor to his eldest.
“What can I tell you from where I am, the sister who remains, the daughter who remains…”, Clothilde Visart de Bocarmé interrogates him. “That Laulau was young, beautiful, determined, committed. With a future full of promise. That I miss Laulau every day; sometimes serenely, sometimes painfully. That I still hurt today thinking that she was hurt “, she continues, saying she wants to talk “often” regarding her little sister to “refuse the taboo that encompasses violent acts”. “I would like to put humanity and solidarity in my speech, as much as it inspired.”
“There would be a thousand things to say. I remember the support, a lot. Today, we still have to try to understand, move forward and make sense of what happened.”
All in simplicity, the two sisters, moved during their testimony, found the smile with the projection of a photo of their disappeared. Squatting among the blue hyacinths, camera in hand, Lauriane throws a smiling look over her shoulder.
In a powerful display of love and humanity, the two sisters of Lauriane Visart de Bocarmé paid tribute to their beloved sister in the Brussels Assize Court. Through the poignant objects of an iPad, a letter, and a book, they shared Lauriane’s sociability, fate, and open-mindedness with the court. While their testimony was moving, the sisters also found moments to smile and reminisce regarding their cherished memories of Lauriane. Their message of humanity and solidarity serves as a reminder to us all to never forget the victims of violent attacks and to strive for a better, more compassionate world.
