The first two people to be charged in Belgium over the Paris attacks were Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 20, who were accused on November 16 on suspicion of helping Salah Abdeslam escape to Brussels after the carnage.
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Abdeslam, whose brother Ibrahim was killed after detonating a suicide bomb in the attacks, was stopped near the French-Belgian border shortly after the attacks, but was let go.
“My client was in shock”, he added, saying that Abdeslam’s brother, Brahim, had been a close friend to Oulkadi since their childhood days. In Belgium: Six have been placed under formal investigation on terrorism-related charges so far after more than two dozen arrests.
“Salah was particularly nervous”, Olivier Martins, the lawyer representing Oulkadi, told the media outlet.
A Brussels court ordered that two other suspects now in custody be held for another month.
Martins said Oulkadi has not done anything wrong. His family says that on November 13 he spent the entire night in Brussels.
During the ride, Abdeslam allegedly hinted he had a sinister link to the Paris attacks. “When he learned that Salah was wanted, he should have gone to the police and told his story, but he was scared and didn’t get the right advice at the time”.
“I solemnly promise you all that France will do everything to defeat the army of fanatics who have committed these crimes, that she will act tirelessly to protect her children”, he said. Prosecutor Molins said Bendaoud was in contact before and after the attacks with a person using a Belgian phone who was in turn in phone contact with the attackers.
And while it’s been previously reported that ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud and another man were planning another suicide attack on the Paris financial district of La Defense, a source Monday said the terrorists may have had even more far-reaching goals.
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The federal prosecutor’s office said the unidentified man was “charged with terrorist attacks and taking part in the activities of a terrorist group”. Authorities detained 16 people, but all but one were released the next day.
