Abdeslam says won’t return to Brussels trial on Thursday:court
Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam has refused to attend the resumption of his trial in Belgium on Thursday over a shootout that led to his capture, a court official said.
Abdeslam “informed the court that he did not wish to appear at the hearing this Thursday,” Luc Hennart, the court’s administrative head, said in an email today.
The only surviving suspect in the 2015 Paris attacks, Abdeslam had originally requested to attend his trial despite being held in France, where he has been in solitary confinement since April 2016.
The 28-year-old defied Belgian judges on the first day of his trial yesterday and said he put his “trust in Allah”.
Abdeslam, who was transferred under heavy security from a jail near Paris for the hearing, refused to answer questions about the gun battle in Brussels or stand for the court.
The Belgian-born French national of Moroccan descent alleged that the court in Brussels was biased against Muslims as he explained why he would not cooperate despite having asked to attend the trial.
“I am not afraid of you, I am not afraid of your allies,” said a defiant Abdeslam, who has grown long hair and a beard during his nearly two years behind bars. “I put my trust in Allah and that’s all.
