Six years after the attacks in Paris, a suspected main perpetrator is to be questioned in court for the first time. He had an explosive belt which he later threw away. With a justification he already caused a stir.
Paris – In the trial of the Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, the main defendant is to be questioned for the first time this Wednesday. 32-year-old Salah Abdeslam is the only survivor of the terrorist command.
He is considered one of the main perpetrators. He has already been convicted in Belgium. More than 130 people died in the series of attacks on November 13, 2015. The terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the crimes.
So far, investigators and survivors in particular have had their say in the process, which has been going on for five months. A corona infection of Abdeslam and other defendants delayed the proceedings.
130 people killed in terror
In the series of attacks, extremists shot dead 130 people in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, as well as in bars and restaurants. There were 350 injured. At the Stade de France, three suicide bombers blew themselves up during an international football match between Germany and France.
Abdeslam is said to have had an explosives belt in Paris but did not detonate it, instead throwing it away in a suburb where it was later found. It is not known whether he withdrew from the attack plans or whether there was a technical problem. In any case, Abdeslam fled to Belgium and went into hiding until being tracked down in a raid in Brussels and arrested on March 18, 2016. Like other notorious Islamists, Abdeslam grew up in the Molenbeek district of Brussels.
Abdeslam defends bloodbath
A total of 20 suspected Islamists have now been charged. In a first statement in September last year, Abdeslam had already defended the bloodbath. “We attacked France, we targeted the population, civilians, but personally we have nothing against them,” he said. When the then President François Hollande decided to attack IS, he knew that this would entail risks. As a witness in the trial, Hollande has already resisted such a representation.
Most of the accused face 20 years or more in prison. Six of them are being tried in absentia. Five of them are believed to have died in Syria in the meantime, and one is imprisoned in Turkey on charges of terrorism. Abdeslam was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium for shooting at police shortly before his arrest. The trial is scheduled for May. dpa
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