Trial of the attacks of November 13: a recovery suspended in the state of health of Salah Abdeslam

Positive or negative?

The date of resumption of the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 is suspended to the result of the Covid test of Salah Abdeslam and to his state of health.

The accused, the only survivor of the terrorist commandos which bloodied Paris and Saint-Denis six years ago (130 dead) tested positive for Covid 19 on December 27 and a new examination was to be carried out on Monday.

"According to the latest information communicated to the parties by President Jean-Louis Périès", the trial resumes this Tuesday at 12:30 pm for a short hearing during which "the court will examine the results of the examinations carried out in order to verify whether the substantive proceedings can resume. Thursday, January 6, 2022 ”, indicates this Monday the national anti-terrorism prosecution. This resumption of the trial will be possible "in the event of a negative PCR test and non-contraindication according to the expertise," the court said on Monday.

Since the revelation of the Covid-19 positivity of the main accused of this marathon trial, held in solitary confinement at Fleury-Mérogis prison and probably contaminated by one of the personnel dedicated to his surveillance, the puzzle of calculation necessary periods of sanitary isolation were imposed on the specially composed Assize Court.

There had first been a question of a 48-hour postponement - that is to say to January 6 - then of a suspension until January 13 before we revert to the first date.

"When you see the density of the box, there is a real risk that other defendants will fall ill"

The resurgence of the epidemic is in any case weighing a sword of Damocles on this long trial which began on September 8 and ended at the end of May and where twenty defendants are being tried, including fourteen present. "When we see the density of the box, there is a real risk that other defendants will fall ill", fears Me Gérard Chemla, lawyer of civil parties, for whom "a strong uncertainty looms".

Before the trial, the lawyer had suggested the establishment of a health pass at the entrance to the large courtroom, for those accessing it "from outside", in order to limit the risk of contamination.

The idea had not been accepted.

"This would not have settled the issue of the accused, the only ones whose trial cannot go without, and who, between transfers and searches between their different prisons and the court, are necessarily exposed", notes one of his colleagues .

The sequence which opens, devoted to the first interrogations of the defendants on the facts, was to begin this Tuesday with that of Mohamed Abrini, known as "the man in the hat" of the attacks of March 22, 2016 in Brussels.

It would begin, if the trial resumes Thursday, with that of the Swedish jihadist Osama Krayem.