Salah Abdeslam: Accused Paris attacker apologises to victimson April 15, 2022 at 3:52 pm

The main defendant in the trial over the 2015 Paris attacks has apologised to victims at the end of his testimony.

Prosecutors say Salah Abdeslam, 32, is the only surviving member of the so-called Islamic State cell that targeted Paris that night, killing 130 people.

“I wish to express my condolences and offer an apology to all the victims,” he told the court.

Prosecutors say his suicide belt malfunctioned, but Salah Abdeslam said he had changed his mind.

He is facing charges of murder as part of an organised terrorist gang but is not accused of killing anyone personally. He began his testimony by pointing out that he himself had killed or injured no-one.

“I know that hatred remains… I ask you today that you hate me with moderation,” Salah Abdeslam told the court in a tearful statement. “I ask you to forgive me.”

His apology marked the end of his testimony, after remaining silent in the early days of the trial, apart from occasionally railing against the court.

One of his defence lawyers asked him if he regretted not carrying out his plan to kill.

“I don’t regret it. I didn’t kill these people and I didn’t die,” he replied.

“I would like to say today that this story of November 13 was written with the blood of the victims. It is their story, and I was part of it,” he added.

“They are linked to me and I am linked to them,” he said in a quivering voice.

The attacks took place on 13 November when a 10-man squad of heavily armed jihadists targeted several sites across Paris, including the Bataclan concert hall and Stade de France.

Nine of the attackers either blew themselves up or were shot dead. French-Moroccan Salah Abdeslam is thought to be the last survivor of the group.

It is believed that he travelled to Paris from his home in Brussels along with the other attackers and was intending to blow himself up. Why he failed to do so – technical malfunction or a last-minute change of mind – is a key question the victims’ families want answered.

He has claimed he had planned to blow himself up in a crowded bar but changed his mind after seeing the people whom he was about to kill.

Salah Abdeslam faces a life sentence if convicted. He has already been handed a jail sentence by a Belgian court for his part in a shootout in Brussels with police that led to his arrest.