Salah Abdeslam admits “mistakes” as he waits to know sentence from trial for November 2015 terrorist attacks this Wednesday
The trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, which killed 130 people and injured 350, was seen this Monday for sentencing, after 148 days of hearing. The verdict of the macro trial, which began on September 8, 2021, is expected next Wednesday.
Thirteen of the fourteen defendants present -six have been tried in absentia- have spoken for the last time in the special court in Paris that will convict them. The Public Prosecution Service has demanded sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment for the suspects who were involved to a greater or lesser extent in the attacks.
“I admit I haven’t been perfect. I’ve made mistakes, it’s true, but I’m not a murderer. If they sentence me for murder, they will commit an injustice,” said Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the terrorist commandos that attacked Paris. The prosecutor’s office asks that he be sentenced to life imprisonment with no reduced sentence.
Abdeslam believes that regardless of the sentence, public opinion has already condemned him before. «For public opinion, he was standing on the terraces with a Kalashnikov, or he was shooting at people in the Bataclan. But you, Mr. President (of the court), know the truth is that I did the opposite,” the defendant recalled in his closing statement.
The 32-year-old jihadist was part of the 13N terrorist commandos but changed his mind at the last minute and did not activate his explosive belt. At the beginning of the trial, he became more defiant, claiming to be “a fighter of the Islamic State.”
Abdeslam once again apologized to the victims and the families of the victims. “Many will say they are not sincere. With over 130 dead and over 400 injured, who can make disingenuous apologies for so much suffering?
After more than nine months of trial, the magistrates who make up the court will lock themselves in a military barracks for two and a half days to deliberate and determine the sentence corresponding to each of the suspects. For security reasons, the location of the military headquarters is kept secret.
The 13N attacks killed 130 people in a series of coordinated jihadist attacks at various points in the French capital. They first attacked near the French state in Saint-Denis, where a friendly match between the French and German football teams was played. They also fired Kalashnikovs at customers on several Parisian terraces and in the Bataclan concert hall, where Californian band Eagles of Death Metal performed. 90 people died in the Bataclan alone.
The attacks, carefully planned in Belgium and France and controlled from Syria, were claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group. Of the nine terrorists directly involved, eight are dead. They died when their explosive belts exploded or were shot by French police.
Source: La Verdad
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