Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam asks victims for forgiveness

Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect at the assize trial on the November 2015 Paris attacks, apologised to the victims of the attacks on Friday at the end of his final interrogation. "I want to express my condolences and apologise to all victims," the 32-year-old said. "I know there is still hatred, but I ask you today to hate me in moderation. I ask you to forgive me."

Abdeslam's final interrogation began Wednesday night and concluded with questions by his defence on Friday afternoon. For three days, Abdeslam insisted that he was supposed to detonate his explosives belt in a Parisian café, but changed his mind on the spot when he saw the people around him.

"Do you regret not having the 'courage' to go all the way?" his lawyer Olivia Ronen asked him. "I have no regrets: I did not kill these people and I am not dead," Abdeslam replied. "I think to myself: if only they knew what they escaped from." He also asked the three co-accused who are on trial for helping him flee after the attacks to forgive him. "I didn't want to drag them into this," Abdeslam said.

Abdeslam has French nationality but was born in Belgian and grew up in the Belgian commune of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, in the Brussels Capital Region. He was arrested in Molenbeek in March 2016 and handed over to France. He is also suspected of involvement in the Brussels attacks on 22 March 2016.

The trial on the 2015 Paris attacks started in September 2021 and is expected to last nine months. The trial on the Belgian component of the investigation into the Paris attacks will start in the Brussels criminal court next Tuesday.

(KOR)

Court-sketch of suspect Salah Abdeslam during the November 2015 Paris attacks trial in Paris, France © BENOIT PEYRUCQ / AFP