Salah Abdeslam imprisoned “in a prison in the Paris region” | EUROtoday

Published on : 02/07/2024 – 1:35 p.m.Modified : 02/07/2024 – 2:29 p.m.

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Salah Abdeslam, sentenced to irreducible life imprisonment for his participation within the assaults of November 13, 2015 in Paris, “has just been incarcerated in a prison in the Paris region” after his switch from Belgium, mentioned, Wednesday February 7, Éric Dupond -Moretti.

“In accordance with the decision of the French courts and the wishes of victims' associations, he will serve his irreducible life sentence there,” added the Minister of Justice on X.

The solely surviving member of the commandos who attacked the French capital, Salah Abdeslam was convicted in September for “assassinations in a terrorist context” by the Belgian justice system for the March 2016 assaults in Brussels.

These assaults, which left a whole lot injured along with 32 lifeless, had been dedicated by the identical jihadist cell as these in Paris.

“They came to pick him up this morning from his cell around 9 a.m. (8 a.m. GMT) and he left for France,” his lawyer Delphine Paci informed AFP. Highlighting a call by the Belgian courts which had briefly suspended the switch to France, which Salah Abdeslam opposes, she denounced a “violation of the rule of law”.

“Salah Abdeslam left Haren prison this morning to be taken to the border where he was taken care of by the French authorities,” the federal prosecutor's workplace mentioned shortly after.

Read additionallyThe trial of the November 13 assaults “will remain as a great moment of justice”

Since his arrest on March 18, 2016 in Molenbeek, a commune within the Brussels area, Salah Abdeslam has spent the vast majority of his detention in France.

In July 2022, after the tip of the trial in Paris for November 13, it was the topic of a “temporary surrender” to Belgium, whereas the trial of the Brussels assaults was accomplished.

“Legally irrevocable” return

During his trial, Salah Abdeslam expressed his want to serve his sentence in Belgium. He has French nationality as a result of immigration background of his dad and mom (a few Algerian-Moroccan origin) however he was born and raised in Brussels, and his family members dwell there.

In October 2023, the Brussels Court of Appeal, seized by its legal professionals, had “temporarily suspended” the switch of Salah Abdeslam to France, the place the jihadist is meant to serve his sentence for the assaults of November 13, 2015.

For Me Paci, the switch to France which passed off on Wednesday displays “a kind of desire for absolute revenge which takes precedence over respect for the law”.

“There was clearly an agreement between the Belgian state and the French state to violate a court decision,” the lawyer informed AFP.

For the federal prosecutor's workplace, Salah Abdeslam's return to France on the finish of the legal proceedings was “legally irrevocable”.

He additionally underlines that “in the absence of rapid repatriation”, Belgium “would potentially have found itself shortly without a legal title” permitting Salah Abdeslam to be stored in detention.

“His release was of course not a feasible option,” provides the federal prosecutor.

With AFP