Suspected Paris Attacker Eager to Return to Scene of the Crime
A lawyer for suspected terrorist Salah Abdeslam says his client, who is currently in custody in Brussels, would very much like to be extradited to France, where he intends to “explain himself.”
Abdeslam was arrested last week in Brussels, after more than four months on the run as the “most wanted man in Europe.” Authorities reportedly honed in on him after finding his fingerprints in an apartment in Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood where several of the attackers, including Abdeslam, lived and plotted.
Abdeslam initially indicated he would fight extradition but reversed his position this week after an attack on Brussels left more than 30 dead and hundreds more injured. His lawyer’s take, via the New York Times:
Asked why Mr. Abdeslam had changed his mind, Mr. Mary said that his client understood that “the case here is just a small piece,” and that he wanted to “explain himself in France.”
Mr. Abdeslam has not spoken to investigators since the bombings in Brussels.
Asked what his client had said about the attacks, Mr. Mary replied, “He didn’t say, because he didn’t know it.” Asked if Mr. Abdeslam had reacted to the attacks, Mr. Mary responded, “He had no reaction.”
Either way—there are worse places than Paris in the spring to await trial for killing and wounding hundreds of people.