The trial of the November 13 attacks will not resume until at least January 25, one of the accused, Ali El Haddad Asufi, having tested positive for Covid over the weekend, sources learned on Monday. close to the file.
In a message sent Monday morning to the lawyers, the president of the specially composed Assize Court, Jean-Louis Périès, writes that the result of the PCR test to which Ali ElHaddad Asufi was subjected “proved positive” and that “the coming week is totally compromised”, a new “useful test” that cannot be carried out until next Friday.
Examinations on the merits of the case postponed
Suspended for two weeks for the holidays, the trial was originally scheduled to resume on January 6, but had been postponed until Salah Abdeslam, still positive for Covid-19, was submitted to a medical second opinion.
The supposed contagiousness of Salah Abdeslam, who refused to be vaccinated “for personal reasons”, was at the heart of the debates last Thursday. Some lawyers, including on the benches of the civil parties, had expressed the fear of the creation of a “cluster” within the assize court, without windows, where the accused are seated less than a meter from each other. others.
VIDEO. Trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks: Salah Abdeslam “plays the nice little boy”
After almost four months of hearings, the trial was to enter a new phase this week, that of the interrogation on the merits of the case of the 14 defendants present (six others, including five presumed dead, are tried in their absence) . This Thursday, it was Salah Abdeslam who was to pass on the grill of the specially composed assize court.