Frank Berton told the iTele TV channel on Wednesday that Abdeslam – the only survivor in the November 13 Paris bloodbath that killed 130 people – won’t be transferred to France before mid-May. The Paris prosecutor’s office says he is to face investigative judges later Wednesday for eventual charges. Abdeslam’s older brother blew himself up that night at a cafe.
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Abrini grew up with Abdeslam in the gritty Brussels suburb of Molenbeek along with several other suspects, who all share a similar history of brushes with the law and radicalisation. The Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for those attacks.
Police have uncovered clear links between Abdeslam and the three Brussels suicide bombers, but he has said through his Belgian lawyer that he knew nothing about the attacks. Sweat on the belt matched Abdeslam’s DNA, a source close to the investigation told CNN. I would like to look him in the eye. I would even say he is worth gold.
“His attorney, Sven Mary, attempted to paint Abdeslam as merely a follower and a ‘little moron” who wasn’t aware of what he was doing.
Mary, continuing after his empty ashtray comment, said: “He [Abdeslam] is a flawless example of the Grand Theft Auto generation who believe they live in a video game”.
Mary said he has spoken to his client only seven or eight times in jail.
“That means be judged for facts and acts that he committed but not for what he did not commit simply because he is the only survivor of the attacks”, Berton said.
French investigators believe Abdeslam may have been the driver of a black Renault Clio that dropped off three suicide bombers near the Stade de France, one of the attack sites on November 13. Abdeslam used to be one of the most wanted man in Europe until his captured in March.
“The note would confirm the speculation that the attackers moved up the timetable because Abdeslam was arrested”, Will McCants, author of “The ISIS Apocalypse”, told Business Insider last month. Was he a little guy and a coward or a pivotal figure in the planning and execution of the attacks?
Police stopped Abdeslam at checkpoints after the Paris attacks but did not detain him then as he hadn’t been identified as a suspect yet. Authorities think the “him” in the letter is Abdeslam.
“We’re in a democracy….”
With his slicked-back hair, cigarette clamped between his lips and grumpy demeanour, Berton cuts a uncompromising figure but he is also “sentimental and a bon vivant”, Romero said.
“A year ago and a half he was still clubbing in Amsterdam”, Mary said.
Mary, 43, said he didn’t care about his popularity levels, but that if he had known about the Belgian attacks, he would perhaps not have agreed to represent Abdeslam.
Some security experts don’t believe that Abdeslam will open up as much as hoped.
“I am not in Mr. Abdeslam’s head”.
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Despite Cottrez’s surprise confession, and admission that she lied about being raped by her father as a child, Berton “never abandoned her or defended her badly”, Dupond-Moretti said.
