VIDEO. November 13, 2015: Salah Abdeslam, the petty offender from Molenbeek who became a jihadist

Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the commando which attacked Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13, 2015, will be tried from September 8 in Paris.

"His case will obviously be the most scrutinized during the trial of the attacks," said Timothée Boutry, journalist General Information at Le Parisien, who traces the journey of this young man.

Party animal and petty offender

In Molenbeek, the municipality of Brussels where he grew up, Salah Abdeslam "distinguishes himself by leading the life of a party animal", explains the journalist to General Information: "Abdeslam drinks alcohol, smokes cannabis and goes out to nightclubs. Absolutely not the profile of an ascetic man and an ultra-rigorous Muslim ”. The young man is also sentenced several times for traffic offenses, violence or an attempted burglary with his childhood friend, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who will be one of the future coordinators of the attacks.

The shift took place at Salah Abdeslam in 2015. "He was notably reported in January of this year by the Belgian intelligence services as being inclined to leave for Syria," explains Timothée Boutry.

In February, he was summoned to the police station to talk about Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who had left for Syria, but the investigators "will not detect any sign of radicalization" at Abdeslam, adds our journalist.

Its role in the attacks

Salah Abdeslam is the sole survivor of the ten-man commando who came to attack Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13, 2015, but “he is also suspected of having played a large part in the preparation of these attacks, in particular by renting cars and going to look for the members of the commando, specifies Timothée Boutry. “Projected from Syria, he went several times to Germany or Hungary to recover these men. He is also accused of having rented hideouts, in particular the Aparthotel in Alfortville where the Bataclan commando will spend their last night before going on the attack ”.

The trial will also have to determine the exact role that Salah Abdeslam played on the evening of the attacks.

On November 13, he dropped off three members of the commando at the Stade de France, who were to blow themselves up outside the stadium.

“Salah Abdeslam will indicate that he had planned to blow himself up, too, at the Stade de France, since he was equipped with an explosive belt, but finally he gave up.

This thesis is called into question, in particular by the technical analyzes which conclude that the belt was defective ”, specifies our journalist.

Salah Abdeslam manages to contact relatives in Belgium, who come to pick him up by car the same evening.

“Once they arrive in Brussels, his trace disappears.

For several weeks, it will remain completely untraceable ”.

He was finally arrested on March 18, 2016 and imprisoned since.

A first trial

Salah Abdeslam was already tried in Belgium in 2018, for his participation in a shooting with police officers three days before his arrest.

"It was obviously a highly anticipated event and Salah Abdeslam decided to remain silent, and did not answer questions from the court," said Timothée Boutry.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Incarcerated in France in April 2016, he has remained almost silent since.

The trial which opens on September 8 at the Paris Assize Court will return to the alleged role of Salah Abdeslam within the commando, on the preparatory acts, and on the evening of November 13.

Twenty people will be tried, including 14 present, the other six are on the run or presumed dead.