At the November 13 trial, Salah Abdeslam says he entered a cafe and "gave up"
Courtroom sketch showing Salah Abdeslam during the trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, at the Paris courthouse.
Drawing from Wednesday April 13, 2022. AFP - BENOIT PEYRUCQ
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
At the trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks, Salah Abdeslam, the main accused, said on Wednesday April 13 that he entered a café in Paris on the evening of the attacks, armed with his explosive belt and having "
given up
" to blow himself up.
Advertisement
Read more
This time he will speak.
It is 6:15 p.m. when the final interrogation of the only member still alive of the terrorist commandos which killed 130 people on November 13, 2015 in Paris and Saint-Denis begins.
Last time, Salah Abdeslam refused to answer questions, citing his right to remain silent.
"
It's because I didn't feel listened to
," he told the president of the special assize court in Paris, Jean-Louis Périès.
"
I'm going back, I'm going to explain myself because it's the last time I'll have the opportunity to do so
," said the 32-year-old Frenchman in the preamble.
In the room, his announcement is greeted with sighs of relief.
“
Everyone here needs my answers.
I do not promise anything, I will do my best
, ”he continues.
"
When he said to me, 'You're going to blow yourself up', it's a shock to me.
»
So Salah Abdeslam tells.
He begins by explaining that he was made aware of the planned attacks by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the operational leader of these jihadist attacks, on November 11, 2015. "
He will tell me the plan, not the targets, but tell me that I will have to wear an explosive belt and blow me up
, ”explains Salah Abdeslam, standing in the box.
"
I had to go to Syria
," he says.
When he told me
: "You're going to blow yourself up"
, it's a shock for me.
“
I will end up accepting
”.
On the evening of November 13, 2015, after dropping off the suicide bombers from the Stade de France, he entered a bar in the 18th arrondissement, ordered a drink, watched the people who "
laughed and danced
".
“
Young people, younger than me.
I didn't want to kill them
,” says Salah Abdeslam.
The French also explains that he did not have the determination of the other members of the commando, for lack of military and religious experience.
He gives up.
He takes the black Clio back, but it breaks down, he says.
He then stayed several hours in Paris and its inner suburbs, before two friends picked him up and
brought him back to Brussels
, where he was arrested four months later, on March 18, 2016.
► To read also: At the trial of November 13, the regrets of Ali Oulkadi
Many outstanding questions
His remarks coincide with the claim message of the Islamic State organization which spoke well of an attack in the 18th arrondissement, notes our special correspondent at the Paris courthouse,
Marine de la Moissonnière
.
But his story does not remove all the gray areas.
How to explain that the least seasoned member of the commando was sent on a suicide mission alone, while all the others left together?
Arthur Dénouveaux, president of the association of victims Life for Paris, is not convinced by the story.
“
It's a beautiful fable
,” he says, “
it doesn't fit at all with all the rest of what we know.
»
The day's hearing was interrupted shortly before 9 p.m. as the time for breaking the Ramadan fast approached, leaving many questions still unanswered.
In particular that of his explosive belt that Salah Abdeslam claims to have never activated when an expert confirmed that it was indeed dysfunctional.
“
On the notion of renunciation, it is not because he says it that it is true,
warns Me Gérard Chemla, lawyer for civil parties, questioned by our special correspondent,
Nathanaël Vittrant
.
What we need to see now, since the general attorneys and the attorneys for the civil party have not yet questioned him, is whether he chooses who he talks to, what he responds to.
»
The continuation of Salah Abdeslam's interrogation is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The public prosecutor and the lawyers for the civil parties will have many questions to ask him.
Newsletter
Receive all the 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 attacks of November 13
Justice
Terrorism