Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Lawyers for Salah Abdel Salam, the sole survivor among the perpetrators of the 2015 Paris bombings, published a letter on Sunday evening, which included a response to the transfer of their client to a prison in France, describing the matter as a “trick” and “a violation of a judicial decision.”
The Belgian media in Brussels reported the text of the letter, according to what was published by the Belgian News Agency, which said: “The Belgian and French Ministers of Justice, in cooperation with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the French Public Prosecutor’s Office, conspired to organize a violation of a judicial decision, while the proceedings were still ongoing, which could have led to... "The decision was made to temporarily withdraw Abdeslam's deportation and remain in Belgium," according to McNab's three lawyers, Delphine Bassi, Michel Bouchat, and Harold Sachs. They added, “The ministers and members of the public prosecution who participated in this trick bear great responsibility.” That is, they acted like bandits, using violence to break the rules imposed on them. They also bear responsibility for further weakening the rule of law. “By acting as they did, they are helping to discredit an institution that tomorrow will demand convictions in the name of respect for the law.”
"Avoid being released"
Abdel Salam was transferred from Belgium to France last Wednesday. France had loaned the terrorist to Belgium to stand trial related to the Brussels attacks of March 22, 2016, on the condition that he would then be returned to France. Last October, the Brussels Court of Appeal temporarily suspended Abdel Salam’s return to France, pending the issuance of the court of first instance’s ruling on the merits of the case. This case has not started yet.
The federal prosecutor's office said on Wednesday that Abdeslam had been transferred to France to avoid release. “An agreement has been reached between the judicial authorities in France and Belgium to loan Salah Abdeslam for the duration of the trial and the possibility of appeal to the Court of Cassation. If we wait longer, we risk losing our right to keep him in prison for a longer period and of course we want to avoid that at all times.”
"He lies"
Abdel Salam's defense rejects this logic. Lawyers talk about “deliberate lies” and play on feelings of fear to defend the prosecution’s position. For example, the lawyers recall that their client was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2018 for the Dreistraat shooting.
The OTP also stated that there is case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union supporting the OTP's position that the judicial agreement between Belgium and France takes precedence over any civil proceedings. Lawyers also oppose this. According to them, the aforementioned case law does not apply to Abdel Salam’s case.
The Special Criminal Court in Paris sentenced Abdeslam to "non-reducible" life imprisonment, with a "permanent" safety period of effectively thirty years, for the November 13, 2015 attacks. In Belgium, a court jury in Brussels said last year that he was guilty of the March 22 attacks. /March 2016. But the ruling took into account the sentence he had already received in Paris, and referred only to the twenty-year prison sentence he received for the Monarch shooting.