The trial of the November 13 attacks resumed Thursday before the special assize court in Paris, in the presence of the main accused, Salah Abdeslam, declared “fit” to appear following having tested positive for Covid at the end of December. He was immediately suspended because of the refusal of the accused Osama Krayem to appear.
The hearing resumed at 12:55 p.m. before being immediately suspended to have a bailiff note the refusal to appear of another accused, the Swede Osama Krayem, whose questioning was scheduled for Thursday.
The president of the special assize court Jean-Louis Périès on Thursday asked for the use of force to bring the accused Osama Krayem to the hearing, whose questioning is scheduled today at the trial of the November 13 attacks. .
His lawyer previously explained that his client had “made the decision” not to “speak until the end of the proceedings”.
“I will be forced to use the police to make him appear in the box,” said President Périès, before asking the escort leader to go get him and suspend the hearing in the meantime.
One of the 29-year-old Swede’s lawyers, Me Margaux Durand-Poincloux, asked to read a letter written by her client to explain her position to the court. “At first, I wanted to express myself in this court. I saw how the debates were going and I lost hope, ”Osama Krayem wrote in it. “We are all pretending, this trial is an illusion,” he adds. “I no longer think today that the fact that I appear changes anything, that is why I made the decision not to explain myself any more.
Salah Abdeslam present
For his part, Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the jihadist commandos who killed 130 in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13, 2015, had not appeared in the box since November 25, refusing, like Osama Krayem, to come there to protest once morest the physical absence at the helm of Belgian investigators.
Salah Abdeslam had tested positive for Covid-19 on December 27, during the suspension of the trial, but several medical expertises have confirmed in recent days that he was fit to attend the hearings.
The trial briefly resumed on Tuesday, following a two-week break. Salah Abdeslam is still in solitary confinement following his positive test, the hearing was suspended until Thursday.
Additional medical expertise ordered by the president of the court, Jean-Louis Périès, confirmed that the main defendant was “able to attend the hearings of the Assize Court”. “On January 6, Mr. Salah Abdeslam will be 13 days from the start of symptoms allowing the lifting of isolation. No specific health measures are to be taken in this context”, underlined the expert report that AFP has might consult.
At the end of nearly four months of hearings marked by hearings of survivors of the attacks and their relatives, the trial is now entering a new phase, that of the interrogation on the merits of the case of the 14 defendants present (six others, therefore five presumed dead, are tried in their absence).
The trial is due to end at the end of May.
Author: 7sur7.be – 7sur7.be
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