Trial of November 13: at the bar, Yassine, brother of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, coordinator of the attacks

Sketch illustrating Yassine Abaaoud, younger brother of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, coordinator of the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris.

AFP - BENOIT PEYRUCQ

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

A new phase opened this Thursday, December 9 at the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015. After the depositions of Belgian investigators, the court began to hear the relatives of the members of the commandos.

First to be heard, by videoconference from Brussels, Yassine Abaaoud, 26, the little brother of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, presumed coordinator of the attacks and member of the terraces commando, killed on November 18 in the assault on the apartment where he was 'was entrenched in Saint-Denis.

Advertising

Read more

With

Laura Martel,

from the France service of RFI

Yassine Abaaoud has first of all a thought for " 

all the victims, the innocent people in the four corners of the world

 ". But he immediately warns: “

On the facts, I am not able to give you information, so I do not know if I will be able to be of great use in this trial.

He doesn't have much to say about his brother either. All the more so, he specifies, that, “ 

in our family we are in doubt because no one has seen photos of his body and there are legends that he would still be alive and that is not he who would have committed these attacks

 .

Confronted with his statements in front of the police officers of Morocco, where he was imprisoned for two years for defending terrorism, he affirms: “

 I do not speak Arabic, I do not know what I signed.

 "And goes on dodging and denial:"

 You knew what your brother was doing in Syria, it wasn't tourism

?

 », Presses the president.

"

I do not know, sir

", persists the young man who points out however that he was " 

not in agreement

 " with Abdelhamid, especially when this " 

sacred character

 ", in his words, kidnapped their little brother in early 2014 Younès, 13 at the time, to take him to Syria where he was said to have been killed.

► 

To read also: Trial of November 13: Osama Atar, the "

brain

" of the attacks "released" by the Belgians

"My family is broken up"

It is only when a civil party lawyer reminds him that the victims are listening to him, and questions him about the consequences of his elder sister's participation in the attacks on his family, that Yassine Abaaoud gives up a little.

My family is broken up.

We were traders without history and everything has changed.

My parents have separated.

It was not easy and it still is not

 ", he confides, before adding with emotion:"

We always hope for the return of my little brother Younes

","

my mother says that her eyes did not take full advantage of it

”.

To read also: Trial of November 13: the mysterious trip of Mohamed Abrini to England

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • France

  • Trial of the November 13 attacks

  • Terrorism