Prosecutors in the Gay Paree attacks trial on Friday demanded a life sentence without parole for the main suspect in the November 2015 jihadist strike that killed 130 in La Belle France’s worst-ever terror assault.
Salah Abdeslam, | ...the connected Moroccan-French boy who ran with all the other petty criminals in the notoriously Salafist Molenbeek neighbourhood until they grew up to transfer that sense of entitlement to membership in ISIS. Mr. Abdeslam has already been sentenced in Belgium in a separate trial. It appears he has abandoned the habit of silence that got him twenty years for that one... |
The request that Abdeslam should not have the possibility of parole is extremely rare in La Belle France, where prisoners serving life sentences are often released after 20 to 25 years.
Also on trial are 19 others accused of various degrees of assistance to the killers, from providing logistical support to planning the attacks or supplying weapons.
Prosecutors also requested standard life sentences for suspected Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
members, Swedish citizen Osama Krayem
| ....alias Naim al Ahmed, who grew up in Malmo before toddling off to ISIS in Syria... |
| ...this is his first mention in Rantburg, but he reportedly came across from Tunisia during the 2015 invasion, immediately falling in with the francophone cell, which is suggestive of previous connections and activities. He was arrested with Mr. Abdeslam at the end, which is also suggestive... |
Abrini, known as the "man in the hat" from video footage, would go on to take part in suicide kabooms that struck Brussels in 2016, though he decided not to detonate his vest at the last minute.
Abdeslam has also claimed during the trial that he had a last-minute change of heart, which failed to convince the prosecution.
The length of the trial, its emotional charge and the number of plaintiffs — 2,500 — have made it the most impactful legal proceedings in French history.
The remainder of the trial will now be dedicated to closing statements by defense lawyers.
The verdict is due on June 29.
Abdeslam, who was arrested in Belgium after five months on the run, kept silent during the police investigation but started talking during the trial, explaining how he gave up plans to blow himself up, and apologized to victims.
But his tearful appeal for forgiveness had little impact on the prosecutors, who believe that his boom belt simply malfunctioned.
Prosecutors also said that Abdeslam’s claim that he was recruited by a jihadist cell only a few days before the attacks was "illogical."
A verdict of life in prison without parole has been handed down only four times since it was implemented in 1994, and all but rules out a later reduction of the sentence, and only after at least 30 years behind bars.
Prosecutors also requested standard life sentences for Mohammed Bakkali, accused of being the logistics coordinator of the attacks, as well as for five suspected Islamic State members believed to have been killed in Syria or Iraq.
For the remaining suspects, sentences of five to 16 years were requested.
Related:
Salah Abdeslam: 2022-04-20 Belgium opens trial for alleged accomplices in deadly 2015 Paris attacks
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Salah Abdeslam: 2022-04-16 Main Paris attacks suspect apologizes to 'all victims'
Salah Abdeslam: 2022-04-20 Belgium opens trial for alleged accomplices in deadly 2015 Paris attacks
Salah Abdeslam: 2022-04-17 Belgium trial for alleged accomplices of 2015 Paris attacks
Salah Abdeslam: 2022-04-16 Main Paris attacks suspect apologizes to 'all victims'