Sole Surviving Suspect in Paris Attacks Stands Trial in Belgium
Mr. Abdeslam, 28, and a co-defendant, Sofien Ayari, are accused of shooting at and wounding Belgian and French police officers who were searching for them in southern Brussels, four months after the attacks in Paris and St.-Denis
that left 130 people dead, and days before two attacks in Brussels, one at the main airport and another on a subway train.
5, 2018
BRUSSELS — Salah Abdeslam, who is believed to be the only surviving member of the group
that carried out a series of coordinated attacks in and around Paris more than two years ago, went on trial on Monday in a case that will be closely watched to see if it sheds light on the assaults that reverberated across Europe.
There is no presumption of innocence, there is nothing, we’re immediately guilty, voilà." Mr. Abdeslam also faces charges for his role in the attacks in France,
but the trial in Brussels is centered on the final days of a four-month hunt by the police and security forces.
The trial in Brussels is the first time the public will be given a sense of how prosecutors are piecing together the parts of what they say was a larger conspiracy, and Mr. Abdeslam used the occasion to suggest
that he had been prejudged by both the public and the court because he is a Muslim.
Before dawn on Monday, Mr. Abdeslam, who is French,
and Mr. Ayari, a Tunisian, were removed from the high-security prison at Fleury-Mérogis, just south of Paris, and transported by police convoy to Brussels.
An advocacy group for the victims of the attacks in Brussels
and at the country’s largest international airport, in nearby Zaventem, which took place four days after Mr. Abdeslam was taken into custody, is also expected to contribute.
