Paris terror attack suspect refuses to answer court

BRUSSELS / Reuters

The prime surviving suspect in the 2015 IS attacks on Paris said he would answer no questions as his trial in Belgium over a shooting that preceded his arrest got under way in Brussels on Monday.
Salah Abdeslam, 28, his long black hair and beard a stark contrast to the cropped, clean-shaven young man familiar across Europe from wanted posters during his four months on the run, was asked by the judge to rise and identify himself.
Appearing in public for the first time since November 2015 attacks and his arrest in Brussels four months later, he remained seated, flanked by two masked Belgian police officers.
“I do not wi-sh to answer questions,” Abdeslam said.
After a first session during which his alleged accomplice admitted to having fought for IS in Syria and said that both accused were present during the March 2016 shootout with Brussels police, the judge again asked Abdeslam to speak.
Citing his right to silence, he accused the media of condemning him before his trial: “Judge me. Do as you want with me,” he told the judge. “I put my trust in my Lord.” “I remain silent. That is a right which I have,” he said, adding: “My silence does not make me a criminal or guilty.
“I am defending myself by remaining silent.” He asked the prosecution to base itself on forensic evidence “and not swagger about to satisfy public opinion.”
That reluctance to engage with the court may prove a disappointment to Parisians who hoped that he might end over two years of silence to give some indication of how and why the attacks were organised.
Among those attending the trial was Bob de Zwart, who survived the gun attack during a rock concert at Paris’s Bataclan concert hall.