**Five years after the terrorist attack on October 29, 2020, that claimed the lives of three people in the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice, the city paid tribute to the victims. Families, officials, and residents gathered on the basilica’s forecourt to honor Nadine Devillers, Simone Barreto Silva, and Vincent Loquès.**
On Wednesday, October 29, 2025, **at 8:30 AM**, the bell of the Notre-Dame Basilica rang. At precisely that time, five years earlier, Brahim Aouissaoui entered this place of worship to kill three people. In front of the facade, families, officials, and people from Nice gathered for **a commemorative ceremony**. Wreaths were laid at the foot of *The Dove of Peace*, **the sculpture by Théo Tobiasse** installed after the attack.
The mayor of Nice, **Christian Estrosi**, spoke: *“Five years already, only five years.”* He then recalled the names of the victims, **Nadine Devillers, 60, Simone Barreto Silva, 44, and Vincent Loquès, 54, the basilica’s sacristan**. *“Five years after the pain burst into their families’ lives,”* he continued.
**The prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, Laurent Hottiaux**, spoke about the symbolism of this place and what it represents for the people of Nice: *“The terrorist came to sow death; he didn’t just desecrate a place of worship; he also desecrated this spirit of welcome, of hospitality, which the city of Nice has made an ideal and its identity.”*
Five years on, the wound remains wide open. Time has not erased the trauma of that October morning, as many political representatives have reminded us.
**A Reflection on a Morning of Terror**
On October 29, 2020, at 8:24 AM, surveillance cameras showed the arrival of the first worshipers. A few minutes later, Brahim Aouissaoui entered the basilica, a knife in hand. He first attacked **Nadine Devillers**, then **Vincent Loquès**, before continuing his bloody path. **Simone Barreto Silva**, severely injured, managed to leave the building and took refuge in a nearby café, where she succumbed to her injuries.
The attack lasted about ten minutes. **Five municipal police officers intervened quickly**. The attacker lunged at them, shouting *“Allah Akbar.”* Two officers opened fire. Wounded, the terrorist was apprehended alive.
The announcement of the attack devastated the city. **In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic**, residents gathered despite restrictions. The mayor arrived at the scene in the morning. President Emmanuel Macron went to Nice at 2 PM. The state of emergency for the attack was declared.
The images, the violence, the symbolism of the place—everything contributed to anchoring this tragedy **in collective memory** even today. Nice, already marked by the July 14, 2016, attack, became *“twice martyred,”* according to Christian Estrosi. He added, *“Nice has shown resilience even when pain cries for revenge.”*
**The Trial and Real Life Sentence**
Brahim Aouissaoui, a 21-year-old Tunisian who arrived in France 36 hours before the attack, was **tried before the special assize court in Paris**. Accused of three murders and seven attempted murders related to a terrorist enterprise, he initially **claimed to remember nothing**. During the trial, he maintained this stance before admitting to the facts in the face of surveillance videos.
At the bar, he stated *“he was not a terrorist, but a Muslim avenging the West’s blind killing.”* He added that, for him, it was his *“right”*, his *“justice.”*
On February 26, 2025, the court sentenced him to **life imprisonment with an irreducible safety period**. A rare sentence. Three days later, his lawyer announced an appeal. **A new trial will take place in the fall of 2026**.
**A Collective Memory**
**The prefect** quoted the words of former Prime Minister Jean Castex, spoken after the attack: *“A mother’s prayers do not condemn to death. Candles lit in the early morning do not condemn to death. The humble work of a sacristan does not condemn to death. And yet, on October 29, 2020, a man entered the Basilica […] to sow death with bloody savagery.”*
On October 29, 2025, Nice reconnected with **memory** and dignity. The faces of the three victims remain present in the city, on plaques, in gazes, in the words of passersby. Five years later, the pain is still there, but so is the willingness to remember, together.
