Trial of the November 13 attacks: the hearing resumed, in the presence of Salah Abdeslam – archyworldys

The trial of the November 13 attacks resumed, Thursday January 6, before the special assize court of Paris, in the presence of Salah Abdeslam, declared ” apt “ to appear after contracting SARS-CoV-2 at the end of December. The hearing, which began at 12:55 p.m., was however immediately suspended due to the refusal to appear of another defendant, the Swede Osama Krayem, whose questioning was scheduled for Thursday.

The president of the special assize court, Jean-Louis Périès, requested the use of force to bring the accused to the hearing. The 29-year-old accused finally decided to introduce himself and took his place in the box alongside his co-accused. “It’s good that you came deliberately”, commented the president of the court, reminding the accused of his “Right to remain silent”.

Her lawyer had previously explained that her client had “Made the decision” to no longer“Express until the end of the debate”. M^e Margaux Durand-Poincloux asked to read a letter written by her client to explain her position to the court. “I saw how the debates were going and I lost hope”, wrote Osama Krayem. “We are all pretending, this trial is an illusion”, he adds. “I no longer think today that the fact that I appear changes anything, that’s why I made the decision to no longer explain myself. “

Salah Abdeslam “able” to attend the hearing

The only surviving member of the jihadist commandos who killed 130 people in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13, 2015, Salah Abdeslam had not appeared in the box since November 25, refusing, like Osama Krayem, to s ” present there to protest against the physical absence at the helm of Belgian investigators. Salah Abdeslam contracted the coronavirus on December 27, during the suspension of the trial, but several medical expertises have confirmed in recent days that he was fit to attend the hearings.

The trial briefly resumed Tuesday after a two-day suspension, but Salah Abdeslam was still in solitary confinement after his positive test, the hearing was suspended until Thursday. Additional medical expertise, ordered by the president of the court, confirmed that the main accused was “Able to attend hearings of the Assize Court”.

At the end of nearly four months of hearings marked by the hearings of survivors of the attacks and their relatives, the trial is now entering a new phase, that of the interrogation on the merits of the case of the fourteen defendants present – six others, including five presumed dead, are tried in their absence.