Trial of the November 13 attacks: incompressible life sentence required against Salah Abdeslam

After three days of marathon indictment at the trial of the November 13 attacks, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) on Friday requested incompressible life imprisonment against Salah Abdeslam, the only member still alive of the commandos of the attacks that caused 130 dead in Paris and Saint-Denis.

Against Mohamed Abrini, "the man with the hat", who had been filmed at Brussels airport in March 2016, bob on his head, pushing a trolley of explosives which he will abandon before fleeing, the Pnat has required life imprisonment.

He confessed during the hearing that he should have been part of the commando on November 13, 2015, but he said he had given up "shooting unarmed people".

The prosecution requested life imprisonment against Mohamed Bakkali.

Suspected logistician of the attacks, he had already been sentenced to twenty-five years' imprisonment in the case of the foiled attack on the Thalys train.

The same sentence was requested against Osama Krayem and Sofien Ayari.

30 years of imprisonment were required for Ahmed Dahmani, accused of having helped in the preparation of the attacks, absent at the hearing because imprisoned in Turkey.

Life imprisonment for the Clain brothers

The prosecution claimed against Muhammad Usman and Adel Haddadi, who had taken the migrant route with two suicide bombers from the Stade de France, 20 years in prison.

Against Ali El Haddad Asufi, suspected of being one of the chief logisticians of November 13, the Pnat requested a 16-year prison sentence.

The Pnat also requested this Friday against the accused: nine years' imprisonment against Yassine Atar, eight years' imprisonment against Mohamed Amri, six years' imprisonment against Hamza Attou, Abdellah Chouaa and Farid Kharkhach, five years against Ali Oulkadi.

Against Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain, "voice" of the audio claims of the Parisian attacks, Omar Darif, the artificer who would have made the explosive belts and left Belgium shortly before the attacks, and Obeida Aref Dibo , another Syrian framework of “external operations”, the Pnat also requested life imprisonment despite their absence.

“He has the blood of all the victims on his conscience”

"Salah Abdeslam told us nothing allowing us to know more about this evening, he told us nothing to understand the events", regretted Nicolas Le Bris, one of the general attorneys.

“We must therefore rely on the objective elements of the file,” he continued.

"He did not kill anyone but took an important place", details the magistrate.

“Like the accomplices, he has the blood of all the victims on his conscience and legally, as a co-perpetrator, it is as if he also had the blood of the victims on his hands”.

Since Wednesday, the three representatives of the Pnat have been meticulously reconstructing "the puzzle" of the worst attacks committed on French soil, from the genesis of the project born in Syria to the recruitment of "seasoned jihadists" by the Islamic State group, until the final preparations.

During the first eleven hours of their requisitions, the Advocates General, in a precise and sometimes arid presentation, dissected the charges they hold against the 20 defendants referred to the Special Assize Court of Paris, six of whom were tried in their absence.

Twelve of them face life imprisonment.

To read alsoNovember 13: the vertigo of the post-trial … “There will be a big air pocket”

The prosecution exhausted Salah Abdeslam's line of defense on Thursday.

Remained silent during almost all of the investigation, the 32-year-old Frenchman repeatedly affirmed at the hearing that he "gave up" on triggering his explosive belt on the evening of the attacks, "out of humanity".

He assured that he joined the jihadist cell "at the last moment", denying having been "a real recruit" or even a "substitute", noted Advocate General Nicolas Le Bris, ironically on this alleged role of "terrorist fallen from the sky ".

"We strongly reject the expression of second knives"

Talkative box neighbor and childhood friend of Salah Abdeslam, Mohamed Abrini, "the man in the hat" of the Brussels attacks in March 2016, was also "well planned" for November 13, according to the prosecution.

He had accompanied the commandos the day before in the "convoy of death" from Brussels to the Paris region.

His “hasty departure” on the night of November 12 to 13, 2015, due according to the prosecution to a last minute renunciation, “constituted an unforeseen event for all the members of the commandos”, estimated Nicolas Le Bris.

The prosecution said it was "convinced" that "11 men" should be part of the commandos.

Just as he is "convinced" that the accused Osama Krayem and Sofien Ayari were to "commit an attack on the evening of November 13" at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.

The floor for the defense for two weeks

The "why" of their renunciation remains a mystery but they are the "two survivors of the Dutch commandos", launched Nicolas Le Bris.

The Pnat does "no confusion between the levels of responsibility of each", assured the Advocate General Nicolas Braconnay.

However, "we strongly reject the expression of second knives".

“All protest that they have clean hands” but “by conviction, complacency, cowardice or greed, they fed the beast, they lodged the beast, they transported the beast, they protected the hiding place of the beast , they helped to arm the beast, ”said the magistrate.

Without them, “there would have been no attacks,” he insisted.

The floor will be given to the defense from Monday and for two weeks.

The verdict is expected on June 29.