“I suffer like the victims”
During this hearing, Salah Abdeslam said he was suffering like the victims and their families. A lawyer for the civil parties came back to this little sentence. Me Seban : “Do you think that the suffering of the victims is comparable to yours?”.
Salah Abdeslam first highlighted testimonies from victims who touched him a lot. He then replied : “Yes, I am suffering. The testimonies allowed me to recognize myself in the victims. We have things in common in suffering, in pain. I’m very modest, I don’t like to talk too much regarding my detention or the last six years, but I recognized myself. So yes, I am suffering and I continue to suffer”.
“I didn’t kill or hurt anyone”
“I have no blood on my hands”, “I didn’t kill or hurt anyone”, “I am not a dangerous person”, “I am not a danger to society, my four months on the run have shown it well”. So many phrases repeated many times by Salah Abdeslam during this hearing. He even claims at the turn of the questions of the lawyers of the civil parties that he has given up detonating his explosive belt.
A line of defense that was also heard in the letters written by Salah Abdeslam’s sister and mother to explain their absence from the hearing when they had been invited to come and testify.
Salah Abdeslam’s mother writes : “I note that my son did not shoot anyone and did not blow himself up. I implore your court to be as fair as possible”.
Salah Abdeslam’s sister, who was very close to her brother before and following the attacks, writes, for her part, these sentences : “Please do not forget that he did not take any lives, that he did not hurt anyone. Why should he be found guilty of acts he did not commit?”.
Allegiance to IS
Salah Abdeslam has maintained his support for ISIS. He explains that he was touched by what was happening in Syria. And wanted to help on the spot. “A passing idea“, he clarifies. It was only much later that he allegedly pledged allegiance to IS, “48 hours before the attacks”.
The president has been trying for a long time to find out if Salah Abdeslam was linked to IS propaganda videos. The answer did not vary. “I have seen the videos of dead babies on the streets, but I have never watched the videos of the abuses”.
Salah Abdeslam spoke regarding France’s participation in the international coalition. For him, these bombings justified the attacks, “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” translated the president before a nod from Salah Abdeslam.
The main defendant in this trial also returned to the hearing of François Hollande. “When François Hollande came here, he said he would make the same choices once more if he might go back. I think it’s very serious. He’s the reason we’re here!”.
Syria
Many questions were then asked regarding the stays in Syria of many friends of Salah Abdeslam who are also in the dock. The president dwelt on the return of Brahim Abdeslam from Syria. Salah Abdeslam maintains that he did not know that his brother had gone to Syria.
It was only later that Brahim Abdeslam would have revealed the true destination of his trip. “He was told to go back, that it was too dangerous in Syria and that he would be more useful in Belgium. That he would receive orders later”.
Salah Abdeslam later clarified : “My brother asked me to do some things and I did them”, without going into further details.
Religion
Through the PV auditions of his mother, his sister and his ex-fiancée, we realize that Salah Abdeslam did not have a rigorous practice of his religion at all.
Her mother explains : “He was a Muslim like us. He would sometimes do his five prayers. There is no radicalism in our country”. His ex-fiancée agrees : “Salah has never been a practitioner. I dated him for almost eight years and he never talked regarding religion, except maybe on the end. He talked regarding it a little bit, but, for me, it was words in the air”.
He himself explains his commitment to IS as a consequence of his sensitivity, his emotions. “It was my humanity that made me look to Syria. I knew that people were suffering while I was enjoying my life in comfort”.
He adds that he was experiencing a real dilemma. Torn between the desire to engage e, Syria and to help his Muslim brotherhood. And the impossibility of leaving his fiancee and family.