Eight months after the start of the trial, Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorist commando of November 13, 2015, will have to answer one last time questions from the special assize court in Paris this Wednesday.
The questions will focus on the hours and months on the run following the attacks, the months spent hiding in Belgium until his arrest. However, it is likely that Salah Abdeslam will not deliver the information long awaited by the court, the latter having exercised his right to silence during his last interrogation in March.
“I made an effort, I kept silent for six years. Then I changed my mind, I spoke to the victims with respect. Today, I no longer want to express myself. I can no longer,” he explained during the hearing, before finally agreeing to briefly answer a few questions. Salah Abdeslam had notably reaffirmed that he had “given up” using his explosive belt on the evening of the attacks, “out of cowardice”. A claim that can neither be confirmed nor denied by experts.
The other co-defendants of Salah Abdeslam will also be questioned. Mohammed Abrini, nicknamed “the man in the hat”, who participated in the Brussels attacks in 2016 and claimed to have been “planned” for the November 2015 attacks in Paris, must also be heard during the day.
After these final interrogations, three days will be dedicated to psychological and psychiatric expertise. The trial will then be suspended for a week at the end of April, before starting its final stretch from the beginning of May, with the hearings of civil parties and the pleadings of their lawyers. The indictment of the national anti-terrorism prosecution is scheduled for three days, from June 1 to 3, before giving way to the defense pleadings. The verdict of this extraordinary trial is expected on June 24.