The historic MEGAPROCES began with the machines of the massacre in Paris: Terrorist Abdeslam shocked in the courtroom! – Topky.sk

The trial takes place in a specially built courtroom. One by one, the defendants were taken to a section separated by safety glass. They summoned them in alphabetical order. Abdeslam went first. When the court asked him to identify himself and state his profession, he said that “his ambition is to become a fighter of the Islamic State”, writes AP. “There is no god but Allah,” he added. Abdeslam is the only defendant of murder. Others face charges of helping to organize or fund attacks or of helping attackers escape.

Judicial marathon

During the nine-month process, more than 1,800 people, including relatives of the victims of the attacks, will testify. According to the AFP, the initial phase will be devoted to procedural matters. Survivors will testify from September 28. Only this part of the process is expected to take five weeks. The materials for the process have 542 volumes. A reading of the verdict is still scheduled for May 25, 2022.

Abdeslam, the son of Moroccan immigrants, is due to speak for the first time in court on January 13 next year, but it is uncertain whether he will be willing to testify. The first of the defendants should be spoken by the Belgian Mohamed Abrini, who, in addition to the assassinations in Paris, is also associated with the bombings in Brussels in March 2016, which claimed 32 lives. The defense will come to the fore on May 6.

Source: TASR / AP Photo / Francois Mori

Strict security measures

Already this morning, a strictly secured convoy emerged from Fleury-Mérogis Prison south of Paris, which apparently brought Abdeslam and other defendants to the Palace of Justice. All persons heading for the Palace of Justice were subjected to a thorough security check by the security forces. To secure the trial, nearly a thousand law enforcement officers mobilized, 630 of whom were deployed around and inside the Palace of Justice, the AFP agency said, referring to the Interior Ministry. “The whole world is looking at us,” Justice Minister Dupond-Moretti told the media.

Source: TASR / AP Photo / Thibault Camus

“The terrorist threat in France is high, especially at times such as the attack on“Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin pointed out in an interview with the France Inter radio station. “I have called on all prefects to exercise caution,” added the Minister.

Source: TASR / AP Photo / Francois Mori

90 people died in the Bataclan club

The investigation into the attacks of 13 November 2015 in Paris and its suburbs, to which the extremist organization Islamic State reported, was closed by investigators in 2019. The attacks were committed by three commandos, each with nine jihadists. One of the teams attacked during a concert at the Bataclan music club, where 90 people died. Members of others shot at people on the terraces of bars and restaurants in neighborhoods near the club, killing 39 people. One man lost his life in an attack targeted by the Stade de France in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris.

Jihadist cell

Police investigated the attacks revealed a jihadist cell whose members moved across Europe but operated mainly in Belgium. This cell prepared and in March 2016 also committed attacks at the airport and the metro in Brussels, in which 32 people died.

Source: SITA / AP Photo / Francois Mori