The defense arguments began at the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015. Monday, June 13, the lawyers of Ali Oulkadi and Hamza Atou opened the ball: the two men are mainly accused of having helped Salah Abdeslam in his run after the attacks. The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office has requested 5 and 6 years in prison against them.
” You are a good person, Mr. Oulkadi “says Me Marie Dosé in opening of defense pleadings, she who had concluded those of another emblematic trial, that of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. ” You are a good person, you all know it here, and no one can deny it. »
For two hours with her colleague Me Judith Levy, she paints the portrait of a man crushed by the heaviness of the charges against him: association of terrorist criminals and concealment of criminals in connection with a terrorist enterprise. Yet he is the one against whom the public prosecutor requested the lightest sentence: 5 years in prison without a warrant. Ali Oulkadi – like Hamza Atou and Abdellah Chouaa – also appears free, not in the box, but in front, sitting on a jump seat.
The Advocates General in their indictment had praised the diligence of these three men, all Belgians, present on time at all the hearings at the cost of significant personal and financial sacrifices. Ali Oulkadi couldn’t afford to pay for a hotel room every night, so ” he joined Abdellah Chouaa in a garden shed rented from a granny who didn’t ask too many questions. He redid the electricity, they bring him his packs of water and every evening, sometimes joined by Mr. Atou, they redo the day of the hearing. Alone, away from their families “.
On the merits of the case, Me Marie Dosé is busy recalling that Ali Oulkadi was unaware when he joined him in a district of Brussels on the morning of November 14 that Salah Abdeslam was returning from Paris after a night of horror.
” It is Hamza Atou who calls himshe recalls. He who was looking for a way to get rid of the burden. And Salah Abdeslam uses him because he is a good family man, never condemned: who could go back to him? Ali Oulkadi was above all a friend of his brother Brahim, one of the suicide bombers on the terraces. ” Yes, he had seen signs of radicalizationrecognizes the lawyer, but not his rocking into violent action. Otherwise, how to explain when he has just learned from his brother’s mouth that he blew himself up in Paris, how to explain that he is sending him a message to find out where he is? He does not want to believe it: is that the conscience of a terrorist enterprise that he is accused of? »
A ” uneducated youth » assisting in the radicalization of the Abdeslam brothers
Hamza Atou’s defense also pleads ignorance but plays on another register. His lawyer Me Delphie Boesel describes ” an uneducated youth, soaked in alcohol and cannabis “, smoking up to 20 joints a day, “ and he should have understood a phenomenon of radicalization that educators and police take years to perceive? He too was in the front row to observe the swing of the Abdeslam brothers. He worked for the elder Brahim, on whose behalf he sold hash at the Café des Béguines, an establishment that the prosecution described as a propaganda center for the Islamic State group.
” The whole accusation is based on the fantasy of the Café des Béguines, which has been described by caricaturing it as a real cinema with popcorn and free drinks to watch beheading videos on repeat “, ironically Me Delphine Paci, his second lawyer.
” Hamza Atou is being prosecuted for harboring criminals in connection with a terrorist enterprise. Penalty incurred: 6 years. Penalty requested? 6 years “, she begins. ” Recourse to a maximum sentence against a very young man, 21 years old at the time of the facts, is to renounce the individualization of the proceedings “, insists Me Boesel. The prosecution demanded 5 years in prison against him, considering his role more essential in the escape of Salah Abdeslam than that of Ali Oulkadi since he went to look for him as far as Paris to bring him back to Brussels. This when Oulkadi simply conveyed him from one district of the Belgian capital to another.
It is above all this round trip to exfiltrate the only survivor of the terrorist commandos that Hamza Atou is blamed for. ” It is admitted that when he leaves he has no knowledge that Salah Abdeslam is involvedinsists Delphie Boesel. He does not have the license but that does not prevent him from driving and multiplying the trips. All this attests to a passion for the road. Ride for football, ride for girls, ride for hash, ride to ride. This is why he agrees, according to her, to accompany Mohamed Amri to Paris.
” Not able to make good decisions »
However, he admitted that Salah Abdeslam had told them about his role in the attacks when they picked him up on the outskirts of the capital. Why then did you agree to bring him back? ” You almost want to shake itcontinues Me Boesel. But he was unable that night of November 14 to make the right decisions. How easy it is for adults like us to say we would have had the courage he didn’t. What pretension! »
Hamza Atou spent 2 years and 6 months in prison. If the Court follows the requisitions of the prosecution, he could therefore return to prison: what his lawyers are trying to avoid. ” Why deny the educational virtues of the trial? Whoever didn’t see the humanity of Hamza Atou didn’t want to see it. What effect would a return to prison have if not a step back? »
Links between these three defendants and the civil parties
Me Marie Dosé also wants to insist on the links that were created during the hearings and outside between the civil parties and the three defendants who appear free. Ali Oulkadi, during his last interrogation, had also thanked, in tears, those who came to see him at the break, told him ” hello in the morning, asking how you were doing. ” Thanks for making me feel Ali again he had said.
His lawyer tells of this young woman who had come to see him, also in tears, to tell him that she had been very touched by his words: ” They took each other in their arms. This strange communion absolutely unthinkable at the opening, that was also the trial of November 13.
Apart from the hearings, Ali Oulkadi, Abdellah Chouaa and Hamza Atou even went to the Bataclan room, at the invitation and with civil parties. ” This bridge that has been created is the best thing about this trial “, insists Me Marie Dosé.
Me Judith Levy who takes over recounts her meeting with Ali Oulkadi when she was still reluctant to take on this too heavy file. ” The guards arrived, holding a shackled man at the end of their leash. He sits down, he’s shaking. After 3 minutes of maintenance, I know that I will never let go. That’s the beauty of this craft, that’s the honor of our dress. »
While he has already spent 2 and a half years in prison, including 31 months in solitary confinement, she insists: ” He has already served his sentence. He should be able to go home free. Find his wife. Take your children to school and football. He will resume his job as an electrician, but above all he will resume his life. »
When their pleadings end, Ali Oulkadi embraces his lawyers. At the break, like almost every day, several civil parties come to discuss with the three accused. A moment of humanity.