The prime suspect in the Paris terror attacks which left 130 people dead and hundreds more injured told a court that he is ‘a soldier of Islamic State’.
Salah Abdeslam, 31, is believed to be the only surviving member of the terror cell which carried out three co-ordinated gun and bomb attacks in the French capital in November 2015.
France’s biggest ever criminal trial began under tight security on Wednesday, with 14 defendants present in a secure custom-built complex embedded in the Palais de Justice. Six others are being tried in their absence.
Police have been on high alert for a possible new strike to coincide with the nine-month judicial marathon, which will examine Isis’s deadliest blow against a western nation.
The worst carnage was at the Bataclan concert hall, where three men with assault rifles gunned down scores of people and grabbed a handful of hostages.
Others targeted the national soccer stadium, where the president was attending a game, as well as cafes filled with people on a mild autumn night.
Abdeslam is the key defendant in the trial and the only one charged with murder.
The other defendants present face lesser terrorism charges.
Dressed all in black and donning a black face mask, the 31-year-old replied when asked his profession: ‘I gave up my job to become an Islamic State soldier.’
He then spent two minutes ranting at the judge, saying the defendants had been treated ‘like dogs’, prompting one observer sitting among the victims and their relatives to shout back: ‘You bastard, 130 people were killed.’
The presiding judge, Jean-Louis Peries, acknowledged the extraordinary nature of the attacks, which changed security in Europe and France’s political landscape, and the trial to come.
France only emerged from the state of emergency declared in the wake of the attacks in 2017, after incorporating many of the harshest measures into law.
He said: ‘The events that we are about to decide are inscribed in their historic intensity as among the international and national events of this century.’
Dominique Kielemoes, whose son bled to death at one of the cafes, said hearing victims’ testimonies at the trial will be crucial to both their own healing and that of the nation.
She added: ‘The assassins, these terrorists, thought they were firing into the crowd, into a mass of people. But it wasn’t a mass – these were individuals who had a life, who loved, had hopes and expectations, and that we need to talk about at the trial. It’s important.’
Victor Edou, a lawyer for eight Bataclan survivors, called Abdeslam’s declaration ‘very violent’.
He said: ‘Some of my clients are not doing too well. After hearing a statement like that they took as a new, direct threat.’
Others bravely tried to brush off the remark.
Thierry Mallet, another Bataclan survivor, said: ‘I need more to be shocked. I’m not afraid.’
Before the trial, survivors and victims’ relatives had said they were keen to hear evidence that might help them better understand what happened and why it did so.
Philippe Duperron, whose 30-year-old son Thomas was killed in the attacks, said: ‘It is important that the victims can bear witness, can tell the perpetrators, the suspects who are on the stand, about the pain.
‘We are also waiting anxiously because we know that as this trial takes place the pain, the events, everything will come back to the surface.’
Eleven of the 20 defendants are already in jail pending trial and six will be tried in absentia – most of them are believed to be dead. Most face life imprisonment if convicted.
Police mounted tight security around the Palais de Justice courthouse in central Paris.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France Inter radio: ‘The terrorist threat in France is high, especially at times like the attacks trial.’
Defendants appeared behind a reinforced glass partition in a purpose-built courtroom and all people must pass through several checkpoints to enter the court.
The first days of the trial are expected to be largely procedural.
Victims are due to start giving evidence on September 28.
The defendants will then be questioned in November, with a verdict not expected before May next year.
But Bataclan survivor Gaetan Honore, 40, said being there from the start mattered, adding: ‘It was important to be here on the first day, symbolically. I’m hoping to understand, somehow, how this could happen.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
from News – Metro https://ift.tt/3hhZoV3
0 Comments