Paris terror trial: “You fed the beast”

In the trial surrounding the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, the public prosecutor’s office advocated high penalties. For the main defendant, Abdeslam, the prosecution called for life imprisonment with indefinite preventive detention.

When prosecutor Camille Hennetier stepped up to the lectern, she and her two colleagues had already spoken for more than twelve hours. “Now I come to the end,” says the petite woman in the red robe. “The penalties that we will demand will be severe, very severe.” And for all 20 defendants.

Prosecutors are asking for life imprisonment

Prosecutors are asking for between five years in prison for one they see as an accomplice and life imprisonment with indefinite preventive detention for the main suspect, Salah Abdeslam.

“It’s a severe but very balanced sentence,” says Didier Seban, one of 300 lawyers on the co-plaintiff. “Prosecutors have revealed the role of each defendant in the planning and execution of the November 13, 2015 attacks. And each of them should be punished for the crime they committed.”

The only survivor of the terrorist squad

Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the November 13 terrorist squad, actively participated in the killing of 130 people in front of the Stade de France, in front of terraces and cafés and in the Bataclan concert hall, prosecutors say. He was fascinated by the violence of the terrorist organization “Islamic State” (IS).

Prosecutor Hennetier says Abdeslam is still consumed by the radical Islamist ideology. Despite his apologies to the survivors and bereaved, despite his statement that he deliberately did not detonate his explosive belt – out of humanity.

“All of a sudden he apologizes”

“I see it like the prosecutor,” says Sahbi Hemana. He lost his son on the evening of November 13 in front of the bistro “La Bonne Bière”. He came to Paris from Algeria for the trial and was in court for more than 100 days of the trial. He seems tired, he says his back hurts from the wooden benches in the hall. Still, he takes his time.

“Abdeslam has shown contradictory behavior. Throughout the trial he has described himself as a member of IS and glorified the terrorist organization. And then, all of a sudden, he apologizes and cries,” says Hemana. “No, I don’t believe him.”

blood on hands

Hemana, along with prosecutors, believes Abdeslam’s explosive belt was defective. Prosecutor Nicolas Le Bris argues that this is irrelevant to the sentence. Abdeslam drove three attackers to the Stade de France. Like the dead terrorists in the commando, he also has blood on his hands.

“The court has to clarify that now,” says Hemana. He hopes that the court will follow the prosecutor’s request by the end of the month. At least that would give him some peace. “Being in prison for life is worse than death. And I hope that will give him time to think.”

All accused found complicit

In addition to Abdeslam, for whom the public prosecutor’s office is demanding the harshest sentence, three other accused are to be imprisoned for life, some with decades of preventive detention. The public prosecutor finds all 20 accused complicit in the attacks of November 13, 2015.

Out of conviction, out of kindness, out of greed for profit or out of cowardice, they all fed the beast. Without them, prosecutor Le Bris concludes his part of the pleading, the attacks would not have been possible.