The main defendant in the trial of the November 13 attacks, Salah Abdeslam, admitted for the first time on Wednesday April 13 that his ” goal “ was to set off his explosive belt in a café on 18e arrondissement of Paris, on the evening of November 13, 2015, but that he had “renounced”.
“The objective I was given was to go to a café on 18e. I’m going to walk into this cafe, I’m going to order a drink, I’m going to look at the people around me and I’m like, ‘No, I’m not going to do it'”said the only surviving member of the commando, during his last interrogation before the special assize court in Paris.
This confession by the main defendant resounded like a clap of thunder in the courtroom. The 32-year-old Frenchman made use of his right to silence during his last interrogation. It is 6:15 p.m. when the president asks him to get up in the box. Salah Abdeslam, blue and white striped polo shirt and dark waistcoat on his back, explained from the outset that he had given up talking because he did not “didn’t feel listened to”.
Informed two days before the attacks
“From the start, we didn’t want to see the person I really am”he lamented, before announcing that he was going to speak because ” this is the last time [qu’il a] opportunity to do so”. A sigh of relief is heard in the courtroom.
Salah Abdeslam began by explaining that he had been made aware of the planned attacks by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the operational leader of these jihadist attacks, on November 11, 2015. “He will tell me the project, not the targets, but tell me that I will have to wear an explosive belt and blow myself up”he detailed standing in the box.
“I had to go to Syria”assured Salah Abdeslam. “When he said to me: ‘You’re going to blow yourself up’, it’s a shock for me. » “I will end up accepting”, he continued. It was his brother, Brahim Abdeslam, who specified his target: a bar at 18e district of Paris. On the evening of November 13, 2015, “I’m going to go out and I’m going to go to the goal that has been set for me”, commented the main defendant.
Abdeslam assures that he does not “know[sait] not the targets”
After having “renounced”he has “take the car back” with which he had conveyed the three suicide bombers to the Stade de France, but this one ” broke down “. He then spent several hours in Paris and its inner suburbs, before two friends picked him up and brought him back to Brussels, where he was arrested four months later, on March 18, 2016.
The president of the special assize court, Jean-Louis Périès, tried to obtain details. “I only know what I’m going to do”was content to reply the accused. “My brother, he had a belt, a Kalashnikov, I know he’s going to shoot, I know he’s going to blow himself up, but I don’t know the targets”.
“Did you know it was terraces, a concert hall? »tried the president. ” No no “, replies Salah Abdeslam. For the Stade de France, “What I know is that [les assaillants] have to make their attack, that I have to drop them off and then leave for my mission”he still assured.
Similar version at Mohamed Abrini
Before him, his ” pal “ Mohamed Abrini had affirmed that Salah Abdeslam had no “didn’t dare to do it, that’s all”. Mohamed Abrini, who accompanied “The Convoy of Death” to the Paris region, returned on November 13, 2015 in the early morning to Brussels, joining a hideout of the jihadist cell.
It was in this cache that he witnessed the return of Salah Abdeslam the day after the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris and Saint-Denis. “He was exhausted, tired, he had a pale complexion, he was white”described Mohamed Abrini. “I’m telling the truth, I was very happy to see him”he continued.
According to Mohamed Abrini, Salah Abdeslam is then ” shout “ by one of the organizers of the attacks. “He said to her, ‘Why didn’t you take a lighter or a cigarette to blow yourself up!’ “I do not wish to express myself on this stage”more ” the [Mohamed Abrini] don’t talk nonsense”Salah Abdeslam would later underline with a smile.
At the end of his interrogation on Wednesday, Ali Oulkadi, who is on trial for having helped Salah Abdeslam on his return to Brussels on November 14, sharply challenged the latter, accusing him of having ” spoils [sa] life “. “If you hadn’t decided to call me that day, I wouldn’t be here. It’s lives that have been wasted for nothing “he dropped at the bar, on the verge of tears.