November 13 trial: the awkward silences and awkward responses of Salah Abdeslam
This court sketch taken on March 30, 2022 shows French lawyer Claire Josserand-Schmidt, representing the civil party, (L) listening to co-defendant Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the attacks, during the trial on November 13, 2015 in Paris and Attacks of Saint-Denis, taking place in a temporary courtroom set up in the Paris courthouse.
- The last surviving alleged assailant of the 2015 gun and bomb attacks that rocked Paris insisted in court on March 30, 2022 that he had 'abandoned' his plan to blow himself up with a bomb belt.
"I didn't go all the way, I gave up on my belt release, not out of cowardice, not out of fear, but I just didn't want to,"
Text by: Nathanaël Vittrant Follow
4 mins
The November 13 trial continues before the Special Assize Court of Paris.
On the 102nd day of the hearing, Salah Abdeslam, the only member of the terrorist commandos still alive, was called upon to respond to the events of November 13.
Salah Abdeslam, who after talking a lot during his last interrogations, suddenly walled up in silence, sometimes distributing a few snippets of answers.
Transcript, Nathanael Vittrant
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“
Today, I want to use my right to silence.
As the oft-strewn courtroom is once again packed, the disappointment is audible.
The president insists and warns the accused: "
Faced with the non-answers, we will be tempted to find some which will be unfavorable to you
..." Faced with the silence of the accused, he ends up shelling the many questions which arise on the involvement of Salah Abdeslam: his role in renting the vehicles that transported the terrorists and the rooms that housed them the day before the attacks, his crossing of Paris from north to south on the evening of November 13 after dropping off the 3 terrorists of the Stade de France, the abandonment of the explosive vest in Montrouge.
Sitting in the box, Salah Abdeslam listens, impassive.
“There is not an ounce of courage in you”
The Advocate General, Nicolas le Bris, gets carried away: “
I have a thought today for the victims, Salah Abdeslam likes to announce that he is going to speak to then take pleasure in remaining silent and seeing the disappointment of the victims.
We have confirmed with you that cowardice is really the hallmark of terrorists, there is not an ounce of courage in you.
The civil party lawyers will not have more success, until Me Josserand-Schmidt takes the floor.
“
Mr. Abdeslam, last week you promised me an answer
,” she begins.
Gradually a dialogue begins, Salah Abdeslam begins by responding by raising his head.
With delicacy, she talks to him about his companion at whose home he cried, a few days before the attacks.
"
When you leave her, you know you're going to hurt her.
At that moment, did you take the measure of the suffering that you are going to cause in a few days, to these tens, these hundreds of lovers who will be separated by death?
Salah Abdeslam then comes out of his lethargy: "
I will honor my promise
", he begins.
►
To read also Mohamed Abrini assures that Salah Abdeslam took his place on November 13, 2015
" I was ashamed "
If he shed "
a few tears
" that day, it was because he had to go to Syria, he says today, echoing the explanation given the day before by his friend from Mohammad Abrini childhood.
“
Are we to understand that on Tuesday, November 10, you are not yet in the process of wearing an explosive belt?
“, rebounds the lawyer.
“
That's it
.
Salah Abdeslam therefore asserts that it was on the evening of November 12, when he found Abdelhamid Abaaoud, another childhood friend and coordinator of the attacks, that he found himself embarked in spite of himself in the commandos of November 13.
“
I gave up on unfastening my belt, not out of cowardice, not out of fear.
So why did you say later that the vest hadn't worked?
“
I was ashamed
,” he says.
A faulty jacket
An explanation undermined a few hours later by the demining expert who analyzed Salah Abdeslam's abandoned vest.
It shows that the igniter, the "electric match" responsible for triggering the charge, was defective.
“
Would it have been possible to trigger by another method, for example with a lighter
”, asks the president.
"
It's an experiment that I didn't carry out
," replies the expert.
Salah Abdeslam's lawyer, Me Olivia Ronen, insists: "
You confirm that we did not find any traces of burning on this vest?
“
Absolutely
,” replies the expert.
"
But when you're wearing it, the only way to know it's malfunctioning is to press the button?"
“Asks a civil party lawyer.
The specialist once again answers in the affirmative.
“
I have no further questions.
»
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Trial of the attacks of November 13
France
Justice