ABDESLAM. What prison term will Salah Abdeslam be sentenced to? While the trial of the November 13 attacks is due to deliver its verdict on Wednesday, the requisitions are heavy against the terrorist.
The debates are closed. And Salah Abdeslam will soon know what prison sentence he will have to serve. After 148 days, the historic trial of the November 13 attacks was (almost) over on Monday, June 27, 2022. Almost seven years after the terrorist acts perpetrated by an armed commando in Paris, which resulted in the death of 130 people in the capital, Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of this deadly team, reiterated his “apologies” to the families of the victims, and defended himself one last time before the judges withdrew for deliberation: “I am not an assassin, I am not a killer.” From now on, the one who was also the holder of an explosive belt that evening and who finally gave up activating it is waiting for the announcement of the verdict, which should be revealed on Wednesday June 29 during the evening.
What prison term will Salah Abdeslam be sentenced to?
A historic trial, historic verdict. The Special Court of Assizes of Paris could pronounce against Salah Abdeslam a sentence which has only been applied on very rare occasions. During its indictment on June 10, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) had requested the pronunciation of an incompressible life sentence. In other words, a verdict that would condemn Salah Abdeslam to spend the rest of his life in prison, no sentence adjustment can be formulated. An extremely rare conviction, pronounced only four times since its establishment in 1994, targeting until then only criminals who raped and killed little girls, including Michel Fourniret.
At trial, Salah Abdeslam’s explanations and apologies
The holding of this trial of the attacks of November 13 made it possible to give the floor to Salah Abdeslam. The words of the last living member of the armed commando who struck in the heart of Paris alternated between provocations at the opening of the debates, then excuses and defense over the weeks, he who had locked himself in silence throughout the investigation, even going so far as to quote Voltaire, during calm and polite speeches.
At the beginning of September, Salah Abdeslam had tried to justify the terrorist enterprise, explaining: “we fought France, we targeted the population, civilians, but we have nothing personal about them.” Remarks repeated during a new speech on February 9, putting the blame on François Hollande, who was then President of the Republic at the time: “it was to stop the bombardments of the coalition on the soil of The Islamic State.” Because the 32-year-old terrorist intended to defend this ideology, as he himself explained: “In many Arab and Muslim countries, Western values take precedence over Islamic values. And for us Muslims, it’s a humiliation. The Islamic State fights in the way of Allah so that his word is the highest, so that order is restored on earth. And I, this fight, I legitimize it.”
Yet Salah Abdeslam has always tried to minimize his role. “I didn’t kill anyone and I didn’t hurt anyone. Even a scratch, I didn’t do it,” he said in February, before hammering on June 27 before the end of the debates: “the public opinion thinks I was on the terraces, busy shooting people, public opinion says I was at the Bataclan You know the truth is the opposite. […] I went back to prison at the age of 26, I’m not perfect, I made mistakes, it’s true. But I am not an assassin, I am not a killer.” The statements of the terrorist had however made it possible to confirm one element: he was indeed in possession of an explosive belt on November 13, 2015, read who said “present my condolences and apologies to all the victims”. I know that the hatred remains […]I ask you today to hate me in moderation. […] I ask you to forgive me.”