Outside, banners hang sewn with words like Justice for Workers.
Inside trade unionists from Lille, Marseille, Roubaix, Strasbourg, and Paris fill every seat alongside foreign labor observers and socialist deputies.
Some come with hopes, others with rage.
Judges Henri Barbier, Claudel, and Levasseur enter, sweeping in their robes.
Barbier leans forward to speak his gavel poised.
"Citizens, we reconvene third time under Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Emergency Judicial Order of 1937. The court will begin proceedings in the matter of Citizen Albert Sarraut, formerly Minister of the Interior of the French Republic."
Barbier fixes his gaze on Sarraut, who is seated between two stern policemen.
Barbier continues, "He stands accused of enabling systematic suppression of labor movements through unlawful violence, mass detentions, state surveillance, and intimidation. Today we hear testimony. The court reminds all that this is due process, not vengeance. Let justice proceed."
