Europe 1 with AFP 1:55 p.m., March 30, 2022
The main defendant in the trial of the November 13 attacks Salah Abdeslam decided on Wednesday to exercise his "right to silence" by refusing to answer questions from the special assize court.
Today's hearing was to be devoted to his questioning on the evening of November 13, 2015.
Salah Abdeslam, the main accused in the trial of the November 13 attacks, decided on Wednesday to exercise his "right to silence" by refusing to answer questions from the special assize court.
"Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen of the court. Today I wish to make use of my right to silence", affirmed Salah Abdeslam at the opening of the hearing, which was to be devoted to his interrogation on the evening of November 13, 2015, causing sighs on the benches of the civil parties.
"I don't have to justify myself"
"Well, I'm going to ask questions and I won't get any answers, right?" said President Jean-Louis Périès.
"Yes, that's it," replied the accused, dressed all in black, in a calm voice.
“For what reasons?” insists the president, taken aback and disappointed by the attitude of the accused.
"You were sometimes provocative, I told you, but you were able to have understanding remarks with regard to the victims", he explains to Abdeslam.
"There are many reasons not to speak. It is also so that I am not called a provocateur that I no longer wish to express myself. It is my right, I do not have to justify myself" , responds the accused in a calm and clear voice.
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The right to silence, “it is a right that I have and I do not wish to give explanations”, he continues.
"I made an effort, I kept silent for six years. Then I changed my mind, I spoke to the victims with respect. Today, I no longer want to express. I can't do it anymore," he said before sitting down on his bench.