Ali Riza Polat is the only accused present in the box to be suspected of complicity in crimes.

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Benoit PEYRUCQ / AFP

Ali Riza Polat is proof, if one more was needed, of the persistence of symptoms of the coronavirus.

This Monday morning, the president of the special assize court announced the dismissal, for the 3rd additional week of the trial of the January 2015 attacks. The state of health of the main defendant - the only one to have to answer for complicity in crimes - was not considered compatible with his presence at the hearings.

The latter was also absent from the box.

The trial will therefore resume next Monday, "subject to a new medical expertise" declares him fit to appear, said the magistrate.

The 35-year-old Franco-Turk felt bad at the end of October, just after the two days of questioning devoted to the heavy accusations he is the subject of.

After a first negative test, he was declared positive for the coronavirus on October 31, resulting in a de facto suspension of the trial.

Two other defendants, Metin Karasular and Saïd Makhlouf, also tested positive, without showing any symptoms.

"We endangered the health of my client"

After refusing to submit to an initial expertise, Ali Riza Polat, placed in medical isolation at the Health Remand Center, was finally seen by an infectious disease doctor on Saturday.

The latter considered that his "digestive disorders" did not allow him to attend the hearings.

"We endangered the health of my client," lamented his lawyer Me Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, who denounced an extremely serious situation.

Me Safya Akorri, who defends Mohamed Fares, demanded that all the accused be tested before the trial resumes.

A request all the stronger as his colleague Me Christian Saint-Palais indicated that his client, Amar Ramdani, had vomited several times this Monday morning.

To be continued…

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  • Covid 19

  • Paris

  • Trial of the January attacks

  • Trial

  • Coronavirus

  • Justice