By SudOuest.fr with AFP
The trial should normally resume on January 4, 2022 but the positivity to Covid-19 of Salah Abdeslam had called into question his presence at the hearings devoted to the interrogations of the accused
The trial of the November 13 attacks will resume as scheduled on January 4 but should be immediately suspended until January 13 due to the Covid-19 contamination of the main defendant, Salah Abdeslam, the president of the court said in an email to the parties. .
The president justifies this suspension by the duration of the medical isolation of Abdeslam (17 days): “as it is and except for new element we could not therefore resume the debates until January 13: I will confirm this new data to you, Monday 4 at the latest ”, wrote Jean-Louis Périès.
Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the jihadist commandos which left 130 dead and hundreds injured in Paris and Saint-Denis in November 2015, tested positive for Covid-19 on December 27.
“Initially, this medical isolation was for 10 days and ran until January 5, 2022 inclusive,” emphasizes Jean-Louis Périès. The medical service of building D3 (of Fleury-Mérogis prison, Editor’s note) communicated to management a new document recommending his medical isolation until January 12, 2022 inclusive, i.e. a total duration of 17 days. It was indicated by the medical staff that the initial duration of the isolation (10 days) did not correspond to the directives concerning the Covid (17 days of isolation). “
The special assize court has been trying since September 8 and until the end of May twenty defendants, including fourteen present at the hearing, suspected of being involved to varying degrees in the preparation of the most deadly jihadist attacks ever perpetrated in France. The defendants were to be questioned from Monday. This postponement will upset the scheduling of the trial.
“I am not in a position for the moment to communicate a new schedule taking into account this information”, specifies the president to the parts.
The pandemic has already disrupted trials in France, like that of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks in 2020.