Sammy Djedou and Youssef Bazarouj.

Prison sentences were requested on Friday against these two Belgians, tried by default, because presumed dead in Syria, before the Brussels court, at the trial of fourteen people accused of having helped the perpetrators of the jihadist attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris .

The death of the first was announced by the Pentagon in December 2016. The second, suspected of having been associated in Syria with the external operations cell of the Islamic State (IS) group.

He was also reportedly killed in a war zone in 2017.

Youssef Bazarouj in regular contact with the Abdeslam brothers

The representative of the public prosecutor's office, Véronique Melot, requested against Sammy Djedou, prosecuted as "the leader of a terrorist group", two years in prison, in addition to a 13-year sentence already pronounced against him by the Brussels Criminal Court in June 2021.

The federal magistrate also requested a five-year prison sentence against Youssef Bazarouj, prosecuted for "participation in the activity of a terrorist group", as an additional sentence to the five-year sentence decided by the court in February 2021. This man from de Molenbeek joined Syria and IS in 2014, and “belongs to the cell led by (Abdelhamid) Abaaoud (the operational chief of the attack commandos, editor’s note) and (Osama) Atar (presumed sponsor of the attacks, led by the 'ISIS from Syria),' said the representative of the public prosecutor's office, stressing that he had had regular contact, in particular with the two brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, as well as with Mohamed Abrini, another defendant in the November 13 trial. .

“Paris bis”

In total, 14 alleged accomplices of the jihadist commandos behind the attacks of November 13, 2015 which left 130 dead in Paris and Saint-Denis have been tried since April 19 before the Brussels court.

The requisitions must continue until Monday.

This trial takes place parallel to that which takes place before the Special Assize Court of Paris, for twenty defendants, fourteen of whom are present.

It is a question of judging suspects excluded from the French judicial procedure but suspected by Belgium of having transported, hosted or financially assisted certain perpetrators of the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis.

The Brussels trial, known as “Paris bis”, is scheduled until May 20.

The judgment, put under advisement, should be rendered on June 30 at the latest.

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