First of the defendants to be questioned, Mohamed Abrini justified the attacks by a Western “response to violence”
Abuses, rapes, attacks… The first of the accused to be questioned at the trial of the November 13 attacks and besieged with questions, Mohamed Abrini did not deny anything about Daesh and justified the attacks, a Western “response to violence”.
“Those who blow themselves up, it’s a response to the bombings”
For ten minutes, the president of the special assize court Jean-Louis Périès has been urging him to say what he really thinks of religion, jihad, Daesh. Finally, Mohamed Abrini complies. “Listen, those blowing themselves up is a response to the bombing. If we do not have a soldier to kill on the spot, we carry out attacks. It is attacks against bombardments, ”he blurted out.
Standing in the box, the 37-year-old Belgian is the first of the 14 defendants present to be questioned on the merits of the case, four months after the opening of the trial. For this first phase of questioning, all will be heard only on what happened before the summer of 2015.
“For you it’s radical. For me it’s normal Islam “
For the “man in the hat” of the Brussels attacks, the shift towards radicalization took place in 2014, with the death of his “little brother” killed in Syria. Mohamed Abrini confirms, but qualifies: “For you it’s radical. For me it is normal Islam ”. “Islam as taught by the prophet is not compatible with democracy. For you, a man who has three wives is weird, you manage to make controversies even for the halal ”, launches later this talkative brown in a plaid shirt.
” It’s the war “
“I take the Koran in its entirety”, adds the accused, proud of his younger brother who “sacrificed himself to help the innocent” in Syria. The court recalls that his brother belonged to a brigade known for its cruelty, including towards civilians. “It’s war, it’s like that”, eludes Mohamed Abrini. “It is a duty for all Muslims to go and wage jihad. “
President Périès pushes. “Does that justify attacking people on the terrace, at concerts?” “” Disgusting things don’t just come from one side. “
The president insists, recalls that the French bombings in Syria only started in September 2015. Mohamed Abrini loses his temper. “You have the impression of hearing children, ‘you started it!’. Before there had been drone strikes that killed civilians. “The president asks again:” And that justifies the attacks? “
“Me that, I am not able to do it, I have always said it”, sweeps away the one who gave up blowing himself up during the attacks in Brussels and whose real reason for coming to Paris with the commandos in November 2015 remains unclear. “Going to Syria to see innocent people being killed, then coming back to kill innocent people – because they were innocent people… At one point in the brain, it stalls,” explains the accused.
“I accept everything”
The court, the parties, pushes him for hours but he refuses to condemn Daesh. The filmed beheadings of hostages? “You too have cut off your king’s head. »Rape of Yezidi women? “It was done in all the conquests… Historians qualify this as a birth rate project. “I accept everything, in the same way that you accept the whole of the history of France with its dark and luminous pages”, loose Mohamed Abrini.
“I was not there on November 13, I killed nobody. For two months I heard people complain at the bar ”
To a civil party lawyer, he refuses to answer. “You disgust me,” she told him, startling the court. “You tell the media, these hyenas, that we are impervious to the pain of the victims. I’m sorry, it breaks my balls, ”he loses his temper. “I was not there on November 13, I killed nobody. For two months I heard people complain at the bar. “
It is the turn of the civil parties in the room to jump. ” To complain ? », We protest on the benches. Another lawyer asks if he has anything to say to the victims. Long silence. “It’s a funny question, I don’t know what to answer you. A new silence. “It’s really sad what happened to them. They are double victims, of the foreign policy of France and that of Daesh. “
The lawyer pushes again, infuriating the accused. “Are you going to sleep well if I say I condemn?” If I could I would have bought universal peace. But I can’t afford it. “