Salah Abdeslam, the main defendant in the trial of the November 13 attacks, was sentenced Wednesday evening by the special Assize Court of Paris to life imprisonment, with an incompressible security period, the heaviest sentence in the French Penal Code. . The five professional magistrates followed the requisitions of the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office, which had demanded this extremely rare sanction, making any possibility of release minimal, against the only member still alive of the commandos which killed 130 people in Paris and Saint-Denis end of 2015.
The president of the special assize court in Paris put an end to the suspense fairly quickly, and the court answered “yes” to almost all the questions: apart from Farid Karkache, all the defendants were found guilty on all counts of charge.
A rustle went up in one of the retransmission rooms, in particular at the announcement of the facts held against Salah Abdeslam. The court followed the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office by considering that he was a co-author of all the crimes committed on November 13. For the court, it is a single target, he is therefore found guilty of “attempted murder of a person in authority”, one of the conditions for pronouncing the incompressible life sentence required by the general attorneys. And so, the court sentenced Salah Abdeslam to irreducible life imprisonment.
Repeated apologies to the victims
The lawyers of Salah Abdeslam, who claimed several times during the proceedings to have ” renounced to trigger his explosive belt on the evening of November 13, 2015, by ” humanity “, had argued against this” slow death sentence “. The court considered that his explosive vest was ” defective », handing over « seriously in question “the statements of the person concerned about his” renunciation “.
The 32-year-old Frenchman remained with his arms folded, his eyes hard in the box, throughout the reading of the deliberations, rendered after 148 days of hearing. ” I’m not an assassin, I’m not a killer “, he had argued in his last words to the court Monday morning, reiterating his apologies” sincere to the victims.
Convictions below the requisitions of the national prosecutor’s office
The courtroom specially built for this trial had never been so crowded, and survivors and relatives of victims squeezed together on wooden benches, in an electric atmosphere.
Sentences range from two years to life imprisonment. Mohamed Abrini, who was ” intended to be part of the commandos, but who gave up at the last minute according to the court, was sentenced to life imprisonment with 22 years of security. The three defendants who appeared free were sentenced to suspended prison terms, and will not return to prison. The convictions are generally below the requisitions of the national anti-terrorism prosecution, which had requested sentences ranging from five years’ imprisonment to life.
Regarding Farid Karkache, he was identified as ” intermediate to provide false identity cards, but Jean-Louis Périès, the president of the court, considers that there was no evidence to conclude that he could make the link with the terrorist nature of the acts which were going to be committed thanks to these false documents. They therefore held against him only a simple “criminal association with a view to committing a fraud”: Farid Karkache will therefore emerge free from this court.
The importance of “respect for the norm” for this “historic trial”
Six years after a night of terror that traumatized France and after a river trial marked by the chilling stories of the survivors or relatives at the helm – out of more than 2,600 civil parties – the defense lawyers had put the court in guard against the temptation of a exceptional justice guided by emotion. On the first day, September 8, the president had wished that the “ compliance with the standard “remains the” heading » of this « historic trial “, some reminded him, arguing against the sentences “ elimination “, of ” revenge or for the symbol “Required according to them by the prosecution.
Three lawyers had pleaded acquittal for their clients. innocent “. ” I am not a terrorist “, repeated one of them in his last words to the court on Monday. ” I am very afraid of your decision recognized another between sobs.
” The purpose of a trial is also to understand in order to judge as well as possible and to delimit the responsibilities of each and to ensure that (this type of attack) does not happen again. I hope that the magistrates will be able to understand what happened and to apply the law as well as possible in order to have the fairest decisions. said Olivia Ronen, Salah Absdeslam’s lawyer, on Wednesday.
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