November 13 trial: Abid Aberkane "panicked", according to his lawyer

Europe 1 with AFP 2:04 p.m., May 9, 2022

"He panicked and made a very bad decision": the lawyer of Abid Aberkane, a cousin of Salah Abdeslam tried for having hosted him in Brussels in March 2016 is the only surviving member of the November 13 commandos, said pleaded clemency for his client on Monday.

Maître Virginie Taelman began the sequence of defense pleadings at the trial, in the Belgian capital, of 14 alleged accomplices of the perpetrators of the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015 (130 dead).

Abid Aberkane was cornered by Salah Abdeslam, according to his lawyer

On March 15, 2016, while Salah Abdeslam - on the run for four months - had just narrowly escaped a police raid on a Brussels hideout, Abid Aberkane was contacted by a man named "Amine" who asked him to join him where he is located in Molenbeek.

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Under a false name, with "a private number" (unidentifiable), said Master Taelman, Abdeslam deceives the vigilance of this cousin, who finds himself cornered, "under pressure", to respond to his request to host him with a accomplice also on the run.

Aberkane acceded to the request, opened the cellar of his mother's home to them, where he provided them with food for three days, until the arrest of March 18, 2016. "He's his cousin, he's under pressure, has to decide in a split second and he's going to make the wrong decision," she said.

“It was a decision of the heart, not rational”

At this trial before the Brussels Criminal Court where "little hands" accused of having helped, transported or hosted members of the jihadist cell of November 13 are judged, Abid Aberkane, 40, is among the most severely pointed defendants singled out by the prosecution.

Ten days ago, a four-year prison sentence, with possible probation, was requested against him for acts described as "extremely serious" by the federal prosecutor's office.

In the investigation, the prosecution reported the discovery in March 2016 in Aberkane's mobile phone of some 200 images "of a jihadist nature, to the glory of the Islamic State group" (IS).

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According to Mr. Taelman, his client was certainly interested in IS propaganda, but did not support the acts of the cell of November 13, also at the origin of the attacks in Brussels (32 dead on March 22, 2016 ).

"He recognized the accommodation (of Abdeslam), he did not minimize it. He told you that it was a decision of the heart, not rational... He cracked," continued the lawyer.

Abid Aberkane served fifteen months in pre-trial detention and a conviction could risk bringing down a suspended sentence pronounced in another case, she also argued.

After the end of the pleadings, next week, the court will reserve its judgment.

It should be pronounced no later than June 30.