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Charles Pépin
jury and feel sorry for them.
He continues. He repeats that
I am a good son and a good
brother. I don’t see why that
stops me from being a good
criminal.
I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I want
to get out of this box; I dream
of returning to my cell and
my lousy mattress, damp and
torn, to get back to Djali, my
cell mate, who will tell me all
over again the story of his life,
Algeria, his bar in Saint-Denis
and everything else that he
would want to share. At least
he knows how to speak with
his hands.
4
The prosecutor has one last
question. He painfully stands
up:
- The death of a mother is
always a scandal, Mr. Solaro,
but Rédoine El Atrech’s death
is as well. Death, Mr. Solaro,
ladies and gentleman of the
court, members of the jury,
death is always a scandal…
He leans on his words and
exaggerates them, his hand
raised in a theatrical manner.
- Mr. Solaro, what link do you
see between the death of
your mother and the death
of Rédoine?
I respond that I don’t
understand the question.
But, deep down, it is not
the question that I don’t
understand,
I
perfectly
understand that he is asking
me if I wanted to have my
revenge of the death of my
mom by killing Rédoine, it’s
the use of the word “scandal”
that I don’t understand.
What is scandalous in this
story? Was Rédoine’s death
scandalous? And my mom’s?
-Whatdoyounotunderstand?
As I say nothing in reply, he