Paris: Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorised Paris in 2015 has asked for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims, wiping away tears during contradicting court testimony as he pleaded with survivors to “detest me with moderation”.
For years, Abdeslam stayed silent about what happened on November 13 that year in the Bataclan theatre, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. After his trial opened last year, he had a few outbursts of extremist bravado, but for months refused to answer most questions.
In this file courtroom sketch of February 2018, Salah Abdeslam, second right seated between police officers, and Sofiane Ayari, second left, attend a hearing at the Brussels Justice Palace.Credit:AP
Then this week, answers started flowing, in lengthy testimony that at times contradicted earlier statements. His words at times prompting angry outbursts from the public.
Survivors and victims’ families, who hope the extensive trial helps them find justice and clarity, had mixed reactions.
Abdeslam said the mastermind of the attacks convinced him two days beforehand to join the team of suicide bombers. The next day, Abdeslam said his brother Brahim showed him the cafe in northern Paris where he was meant to detonate himself in a crowd.
“For me, it was a shock. I didn’t know how to react. I showed that I wasn’t ready for that,” Abdeslam told the court. “He ended up convincing me.”
Salah Abdeslam, left, walking through a market in Brussels in 2016, is one of 20 people on trial for the 2015 Paris attacks.Credit:AP
He recounted donning an explosive belt on the night, as his brother and other IS members who had fought in Syria were fanned out around Paris mounting parallel attacks.
“I enter the cafe, I order a drink,” Abdeslam said. “I was thinking. I looked at people laughing, dancing. And that’s when I knew that I couldn’t do it.”
“I told myself, I’m not going to do it,” he said, claiming a sense of “humanity”.
A police explosives expert has told the court that the suicide belt was faulty, but Abdeslam testified that he disabled it.
Last month, he expressed “regret” that he hadn’t followed through on the attack.
This courtroom sketch shows key defendant Salah Abdeslam, at left and in black at centre, with court president Jean-Louis Peries, right, in the special courtroom built for the 2015 attacks trial.Credit:AP
But this week, he started showing signs of remorse. “There are no words for this,” he said.
Questioned on Friday, Paris time, by his lawyer about his mother and the loss of her older son’s death, Abdeslam started to cry for the first time since the trial began in September, according to French media reports.
“I ask you today to detest me with moderation,” he told the victims. “I offer my condolences, and I ask forgiveness for all the victims.” He has also repeatedly asked forgiveness of three fellow defendants being tried for helping him escape.
Georges Salines, whose daughter Lola was killed in the Bataclan, was quoted by France-Info radio as saying: “Abdeslam is trying to settle a mountain of contradictions in his head. He’s trying to resolve them, but his path will be long.”
After leaving the cafe, Abdeslam described desperate attempts to reach friends to ask for help, and taking a taxi across Paris to the suburb of Montrouge, where he said he removed the detonator from his explosive vest and tossed the vest in a garbage bin. He hid out at first near Paris, and then fled with friends to Brussels, where he was arrested four months later.
He faces life in prison if convicted on murder charges.
The more than 2400 civil parties to the case present their final arguments next month, and the verdict is expected on June 24. It’s among the biggest trials in modern French history.
AP
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