ISIS fanatic Salah Abdeslam tells court it ‘will be an injustice’ if he is convicted over Bataclan attack on last day of nine-month trial and judges go to consider verdict in secret location
- Salah Abdeslam, 32, told the court he had apologised and was ‘not a killer’
- The judges have withdrawn to a secret location to deliberate their verdicts
- The November 2015 Paris attacks killed 90 people at the Bataclan concert hall
- His lawyer argued a life sentence with no parole would be a ‘loss of proportion’
The final surviving member of the group of ISIS fanatics who terrorized Paris with a string of attacks in November 2015 has begged for clemency on the final day of his trial, saying he is not ‘a murderer’.
Salah Abdeslam, 32, told the court he had apologised for his actions and to convict him of murder would be an ‘injustice’.
The five judges overseeing the trial into the attacks, which took place at multiple locations across the city including in the Bataclan concert hall, headed to a secret location today (June 27) to consider their verdicts.
The specially built court in central Paris held its final hearings on Monday after nine months of testimony and questioning that has seen the only surviving Islamic State attacker, Salah Abdeslam, beg for clemency.
Salah Abdeslam, 32, told the court he had apologised for his actions and to convict him of murder would be an ‘injustice’
The former ISIS member was arrested in Brussels after a Europe-wide manhunt in March 2016
Hundreds of tributes were laid by the Bataclan and other target sites to those who had lost their lives in the attacks, which killed 130 people
During proceedings he told the court: ‘I’ve offered you my apologies. Some people will say that they’re insincere… as if apologies could be insincere in the face of so much suffering.
‘I went to prison at the age of 26. I’m not perfect, I made mistakes, it’s true.
‘But I’m not a murderer, I’m not a killer. If you convict me for murder, you will be committing an injustice.’
Abdeslam has not denied dropping off other suicide bombers during the trial or being part of the conspiracy to attack Paris on November 13, which left 130 people dead.
But he claims he backed out of his mission to blow himself up in a bar in northern Paris – something prosecutors have argued is untrue.
Citing his own letters and earlier statements, prosecutors say Abdeslam’s suicide belt was defective, meaning he was unable to detonate himself.
The devastating attacks were the biggest peace-time atrocity in modern French history, sending shockwaves through the country
Abdeslam (right) stands next to some of the other defendants in the trial. The judges have now withdrawn to a secret location to deliberate their verdicts.
Abdeslam was arrested by police in Brussels, Belgium after fleeing Paris in the wake of the deadly attacks.
He was charged with multiple counts of murder, complicity to murder, belonging to a terrorist organization and taking part in a conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping as a member of a terrorist organization.
During the assault on the property where he was arrested Abdeslam was shot and briefly admitted to hospital.
Verdicts for him and 19 other suspects on trial are due on Wednesday afternoon from five judges who were taken to a secret location in the Paris region to mull their verdicts.
Only 14 people have appeared in the historic court, with the other six missing or presumed to be dead.
Prosecutors have called for a life sentence without parole for Abdeslam, who is French but grew up in Brussels and has family roots in Morocco.
During her closing arguments on Monday, Abdelslam’s lawyer Olivia Ronan told a panel of judges that her client is the only one in the group of attackers who didn’t set off explosives to kill others that night. He can’t be convicted for murder, Ronan said.
‘If a life sentence without hope for ever experiencing freedom again is pronounced, I fear we have lost a sense of proportion,’ Ronan said.
The November 2015 attacks were the biggest peace-time atrocity in modern French history, sending shockwaves through the country and making clear the threat posed by the Islamic State group from its base in Iraq and Syria.
The attack on the Bataclan concert venue was one of the most deadly sites. Gunmen from the Islamic State group burst into the hall while US rock band Eagles of Death Metal were halfway through their set.
The band escaped through a side door but their tour manager was killed, along with 89 others.
The attackers took hostages inside the music hall during an hours-long assault that ended after police shot dead one militant and the two others detonated their suicide vests.
Survivors have recounted playing dead for hours, or hiding in cupboards, not knowing if their friends or relatives were still alive.
A majority of those on trial for the attacks offered apologies and appeared to show a measure of remorse on Monday, including one of Abdeslam’s co-defendants and close friends, Mohamed Abrini.
‘I’ve put faces to the victims. I’m aware that what happened is disgusting,’ he told the court.
‘In a way, I could have stopped all that,’ added the 37-year-old Belgian, who admitted in court that he had originally been chosen for the 10-person team which attacked Paris.
Abrini, accused of having provided weapons and logistical support, took part in separate suicide bombings that struck Brussels in 2016, though he decided not to detonate his vest at the last minute.
Prosecutors have called for him to serve a life sentence with a minimum 22-year prison term.
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