It was the scenario feared by all the actors of "V 13".
The trial of the November 13 attacks should be suspended for at least two days next week due to the Covid-19 contamination of the main accused, Salah Abdeslam, said Thursday, December 30 a source close to the file in
Figaro
, confirming information from France Inter.
Read also At the November 13 trial, the lessons of a month devoted to the judicial investigation
Initially, the trial was to resume on Tuesday January 4 with the interrogation of Mohamed Abrini.
But, according to our information, the president told lawyers that he would probably suspend the hearing for two days because "
of the very probable finding of the absence of an accused for medical reasons and medical isolation.
The debates should therefore resume on Thursday, January 6, while the interrogations scheduled for January 4 and 5 will be postponed to a later date.
Clusters in Fleury-Mérogis
Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the jihadist commandos which left 130 dead and hundreds injured in Paris and Saint-Denis in November 2015, tested positive for Covid-19 on December 27. He was held for the duration of the hearing in Fleury-Mérogis prison, in Essonne. Several sources of contamination were detected there, and a massive screening of detainees and staff is underway until Monday, according to a union source at AFP. Although in total isolation, the accused is in contact with prison guards, his lawyers as well as 13 relatives who have permission to see him in the visiting room, reports RTL.
The pandemic has already disrupted trials in France, like that of the
Charlie Hebdo
and Hyper Cacher
attacks
in 2020. Briefly interrupted at the end of September after a suspected case, the hearing was suspended for good on the 31st October, after three cases of contamination among the accused.
The break, initially scheduled for two weeks, ended up lasting a month.
Since September 8 and until May, the specially composed Assize Court has tried 20 defendants, including 14 present at the hearing, suspected of being involved to varying degrees in the preparation of the most deadly jihadist attacks ever perpetrated in France. .