The key defendant in the 2015 Paris attacks trial said Wednesday that the Islamic State network that attacked the city was attacking France and that the deaths of 130 people were “nothing personal.”
Dressed in black and declining to remove his black mask, Salah Abdeslam was the last of the 14 defendants present in the bespoke courtroom.
Nine Islamic State group gunmen and suicide bombers attacked each other in a few minutes in various places in Paris on November 13, 2015, starting at the national football stadium and ending with a bloodbath in the Bataclan concert hall. It was the deadliest violence to attack France since World War II and among the worst terrorist attacks to hit the West.
This outline of the courtroom shows key defendant Salah Abdeslam, in the special courtroom built for the 2015 assault trial, on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 in Paris.
(Noelle Herrenschmidt via AP)
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Abdeslam is the sole survivor of this cell, most of whose members were French or Belgian. He fled the city after ruling out the suicide vest’s malfunction. The two people he called to drive all night from Brussels to Paris and pick him up are among the 20 men prosecuted. Six are tried in absentia.
Abdeslam said the attack was revenge for French airstrikes on Syria and Iraq.
“We fought against France, we attacked France, we targeted the civilian population. It was nothing personal against them,” Abdeslam said. “I know my statement may be shocking, but it’s not about deepening the knife into the wound, but being honest with those who suffer immeasurable pain.”
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The same network hit the airport and the Brussels metro system in March 2016 and killed 32 more people. Mohammed Abrini, also on trial in Paris, left Paris the night before the November 2015 attack but took part in the Brussels attack. He acknowledged his role on Wednesday.
“In this evil that happened in France, I am neither the commander nor the architect. I did not provide any logistical or financial help,” Abrini said.