“It will come down to not confusing Paris and Brussels.” Salah Abdeslam’s lawyers pointed this out in their defence. “The stakes are high for him and for the judiciary: he should not be convicted for what he has not done,” said Delphine Paci. The defense denies that Abdeslam participated in the Brussels attacks, even though he was convicted of the Paris attacks. Abdeslam himself did not come to the Justitia building today, he remained in the cell on his bed.
Bilal El Makhoukhi did leave, but indicated in the room where he would be searched that he refused his transfer. The session was therefore suspended for two hours.
The chairwoman pointed out that the police may use coercion – not force, she stressed – to transfer the accused from prison. Agents, however, were not about to jump. Ali El Haddad Asufi had already accused them last week of “strangled” him when they applied an arm lock. Massart instructed the police to use some “psychology.”
According to the PV, two teams of three policemen tried to talk to the accused. El Makhoukhi would have continued to refuse, “but he was not aggressive”. Abdeslam then remained lying on his bed again. After the conversation, in which the cell door remained open, he would have turned around and said “he wasn’t coming”.
Session suspended
The defense attorneys asked to speak at the trial, but were denied. Mohamed Abrini, who was preparing to leave the accused box again with the four others, was also not allowed to speak.
El Makhoukhi’s lawyer subsequently indicated that he did not know the reason for his client’s refusal and was unable to defend him in those circumstances. The chairwoman interrupted him, adjourned the session and called in the chairman of the Bar Council as mediator.
The session resumed two hours later. The Public Prosecution Service continued to read the last pages of the indictment, which mainly explained the role of the accused Ibrahim Farisi. He made himself noticed when he straightened up to complain about the accused in the box. Farisi reproaches them for staying away from the hall. His lawyer Xavier Carrette later explained that he “wants to understand and defend himself after all these years”.
On 23 and 25 March 2016, shortly after the attacks in Brussels and Zaventem, Farisi emptied the safe house of the terrorists in the Kazernenlaan in Etterbeek together with his brother Smail. This was later revealed by video footage.
The younger of the two Farisis on trial must have known at the time that the El Bakraoui brothers were wanted in a terrorist context, federal prosecutor Paule Somers read from the indictment. The El Bakraouis both stayed in the safe house that was sublet by Smail.
The two brothers were finally arrested on April 9, 2016, near the studio, after a house search had just taken place there. When the police entered the safehouse, it was completely empty.
LOOK. Terror trial explained in 90 seconds by Faroek Özgünes
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