Salah Abdeslam, sentenced to irreducible life imprisonment for his participation in the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris, "has just been incarcerated in a prison in the Paris region" after his transfer from Belgium, said, Wednesday February 7, Éric Dupond -Moretti.
“In accordance with the decision of the French courts and the wishes of victims' associations, he will serve his irreducible life sentence there,” added the Minister of Justice on X.
Salah Adbeslam has just been incarcerated in a prison in the Paris region.
In accordance with the decision of the French courts and the wishes of victims' associations, he will serve his irreducible life sentence there.
— Eric Dupond-Moretti (@E_DupondM) February 7, 2024
The only surviving member of the commandos who attacked the French capital, Salah Abdeslam was convicted in September for "assassinations in a terrorist context" by the Belgian justice system for the March 2016 attacks in Brussels.
These attacks, which left hundreds injured in addition to 32 dead, were committed by the same jihadist cell as those in Paris.
“They came to pick him up this morning from his cell around 9 a.m. (8 a.m. GMT) and he left for France,” his lawyer Delphine Paci told AFP. Highlighting a decision by the Belgian courts which had temporarily suspended the transfer to France, which Salah Abdeslam opposes, she denounced a "violation of the rule of law".
“Salah Abdeslam left Haren prison this morning to be taken to the border where he was taken care of by the French authorities,” the federal prosecutor’s office said shortly after.
Read alsoThe trial of the November 13 attacks “will remain as a great moment of justice”
Since his arrest on March 18, 2016 in Molenbeek, a commune in the Brussels region, Salah Abdeslam has spent the majority of his detention in France.
In July 2022, after the end of the trial in Paris for November 13, it was the subject of a "temporary surrender" to Belgium, the time to carry out the trial of the Brussels attacks.
“Legally irrevocable” return
During his trial, Salah Abdeslam expressed his desire to serve his sentence in Belgium. He has French nationality due to the immigration background of his parents (a couple of Algerian-Moroccan origin) but he was born and raised in Brussels, and his relatives live there.
In October 2023, the Brussels Court of Appeal, seized by its lawyers, had “temporarily suspended” the transfer of Salah Abdeslam to France, where the jihadist is supposed to serve his sentence for the attacks of November 13, 2015.
For Me Paci, the transfer to France which took place on Wednesday reflects "a kind of desire for absolute revenge which takes precedence over respect for the law".
“There was clearly an agreement between the Belgian state and the French state to violate a court decision,” the lawyer told AFP.
For the federal prosecutor's office, Salah Abdeslam's return to France at the end of the criminal proceedings was "legally irrevocable".
He also underlines that "in the absence of rapid repatriation", Belgium "would potentially have found itself shortly without a legal title" allowing Salah Abdeslam to be kept in detention.
“His release was of course not a feasible option,” adds the federal prosecutor.
With AFP
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