The defendants in the trial of the attacks of March 22, 2016 denounce conditions of extraction described as “unworthy”.
Salah Abdeslam and four of his co-accused in the trial of the attacks of March 22, 2016 in Brussels left the courtroom this Wednesday morning, in particular to protest against the conditions of extraction deemed “unworthy“.
“All we want is to talk, all we want is to defend ourselves“, assured one of them, Ali El Haddad Asufi. But “everything is done to break us psychologically“, he added, before leaving the box in turn.
“Everything is done to keep us quiet”
In addition to the Frenchman Salah Abdeslam, the Belgian-Moroccan Mohamed Abrini, the Swede Osama Krayem and the Tunisian Sofien Ayari, all already condemned in France for their participation in the attacks of November 13 in Paris, left the box.
Read alsoBeginning of the extraordinary trial of the Brussels attacks
“Everything is done to keep us quiet (…) everything is done to break us psychologically“, continued Ali El Haddad Asufi, accused of logistical support to the perpetrators of the attacks which killed 32 people at Brussels-Zaventem airport and in the Brussels metro. He asked “dignified measures“, as “all litigants“. “If nobody talks, there can’t be a trial“, said Ali El Haddad Asufi, denouncing a “political trialbefore deserting the box in turn. “For the Assize Court, this is not a political trial“, affirmed the president Laurence Massart. “We will examine everything for and against“, she insisted.
The protests against the conditions of extraction and transfer of the seven accused appearing detained – two others are free and a tenth, presumed dead in Syria, is tried in absentia – had already marked the first day of debates on Monday.
Transfer conditions described as “pitiful”
Mohamed Abrini, known as “the man in the hat“who gave up blowing himself up at Brussels airport on March 22, 2016, had taken the floor to criticize transfer conditions”pitiful” and “humiliating», Blindfolded with «loud satanic musicas well as strip searches.
Ali El Haddad Asufi’s lawyer, Jonathan de Taye, had denounced the naked genuflections and announced a formal notice from the Ministry of Justice in order to obtain the relaxation of security measures. After this hearing incident, the public prosecutor continued to read the indictment, a summary of the investigations of more than 400 pages, in front of an almost empty box.