Salah Abdeslam is back in France. The only survivor of the commandos of the attacks of November 13, 2015 was sentenced to irreducible life imprisonment in France. He was then tried in Belgium in the trial of the 2016 Brussels attacks. His lawyers are up in arms after this transfer which took place on Wednesday morning February 7.
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Salah Abdeslam’s hope of early release is dashed. Recently convicted in Belgium for the Brussels attacks, Salah Abdeslam had expressed his wish to serve his sentence in his Belgian prison.
For what ? First, because his conditions of detention were less drastic than in France, including an authorized walk with another detainee in exchange for complete isolation on the French side. But above all, in Belgium, Salah Abdeslam could have requested release after 15 years.
In France, sentenced to irreducible life imprisonment, he will not be able to request a reduction in his sentence before 30 years.
Urgently contacted by his lawyers, the Belgian courts initially refused to transfer Salah Abdeslam to France, considering that his treatment there was inhumane. But the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office did not have the same interpretation, emphasizing that by refusing to send Salah Abdeslam back to France, Belgium would no longer have a legal reason to keep him in detention.
A decision without any possible appeal. Salah Abdeslam will therefore serve his irreducible life sentence in a prison in the Paris region.
Read alsoBrussels attacks: Salah Abdeslam wants to serve his sentence in Belgium and not in France