Judges withdraw to review verdicts in Paris assault trials

Five judges overseeing the trial into the November 2015 attacks on the Bataclan concert hall and other targets in Paris went to an undisclosed location on Monday to review their verdicts.

The purpose-built court in central Paris on Monday held its final hearing after nine months of testimony and questioning at which the sole surviving Islamic State attacker, Salah Abdeslam, pleaded for clemency.

“I offered you my apologies. Some people will say they are disingenuous… as if apologies could be disingenuous in the face of so much suffering,” Abdeslam, 32, told the court in his closing statement on Monday.

“I went to prison when I was 26. I’m not perfect, I’ve made mistakes, that’s true. But I’m not a killer, I’m not a killer,” he added, wearing a gray sweatshirt and with his hair cropped short.

“If you convict me of murder, you commit injustice.”

During the trial, which began last September, Abdeslam did not deny having deposed other suicide bombers or being part of the conspiracy to attack Paris on November 13, 2015, which killed 130 people.

But he said he backed off from his mission to blow himself up in a bar in north Paris – something prosecutors have argued is not true.

Citing his own letters and previous statements, prosecutors say Abdeslam’s explosive belt was defective, meaning he was unable to detonate himself.

Verdicts for him and 19 other suspects in court are due Wednesday afternoon from five judges who have been taken to an undisclosed location in the Paris region to consider their verdicts.

Only 14 people appeared in the historic court, the other six are missing or presumed dead.

Prosecutors are asking for a life sentence without parole for Abdeslam, who is French but grew up in Brussels and has family roots in Morocco.

The November 2015 attacks were the greatest peacetime atrocity in modern French history, sending shock waves across the country and highlighting the threat posed by the Islamic State group from its bases in Iraq and Syria.

The majority of those accused have apologized and appeared to show some degree of remorse on Monday, including one of the co-defendants and close friends of Abdeslam, Mohamed Abrini.

“I gave faces to the victims. I am aware that what happened is disgusting,” he said in court.

“In a way, I could have prevented all that,” added the 37-year-old Belgian, who admitted in court that he was originally chosen for the 10-man team that attacked Paris.

Abrini, who is accused of providing arms and logistical support, participated in several suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016, though he chose not to detonate his vest at the last minute.

Prosecutors asked for a life sentence with a minimum of 22 years in prison.