Paris Attacks Trial: Sole Surviving Suspect Portrays Himself as ’Kind and Calm’

On Tuesday, the sole survivor of the commando of the attacks presented himself in a completely different light than the one he had shown. He declared to be "someone kind, calm". While at the beginning of the trial, Salah Abdeslam showed barely veiled insolence and claimed to be a "fighter of the Islamic State".

In response to the questions of Jean-Louis Périès, president of the court, Abdeslaam answered with the greatest calm, to the general astonishment. A French national, he was born in Belgium to Moroccan parents. He confides to be "the fourth of a fraternity of five children, with three older brothers and a younger sister". His father was a tram driver at the Stib (Société des transports intercommunaux de Bruxelles) and his mother was a housewife. "My childhood was very simple. I was someone calm, kind. There was a good atmosphere," says the accused, now 32 years old, reports lci.fr.

The description made by Salah Abdeslam had nothing to do with the man with the thick beard, accused of being among those responsible for one of the deadliest attacks France has known. "Good student", "loved" according to him by his teachers, Salah Abdeslam obtained his baccalaureate and left school at the age of 18. He is then hired at the Stib as an electromechanic and repairs the trams. At the age of 21, his life takes a turn for a conviction of five years in prison for having participated in an attempted burglary "after an alcoholic evening", according to his account.

After his release from prison, he finds himself unemployed, but manages to buy a van and set up a small moving company that will soon go bankrupt. He will accumulate small jobs without being able to maintain himself. Being on a downward slope, he will be the subject of other convictions, for acts of misconduct. "I like speed," justifies the accused. The president adds that Abdeslam would also have been "wanted for acts of terrorism in Morocco", specifying that this aspect will be studied "later".

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Abdeslam explains that he had a normal life like everyone else. How did he go from this "normal" life to that of a claimed "fighter" of the Islamic State? The answer will come from his childhood friend, Mohamed Abrini with whom he grew up in Molenbeek. "Salah and I were both hit the same way. He lost a brother, I lost a brother. What happened is completely crazy. I know everyone hates him. But to me he’s like my brother. We didn’t come out of our mothers’ bellies like that, with a Kalashnikov in our hands," he says.

Since his arrest in March 2016, Abdeslam has been isolated in a 9 m² cell with a window, a television, a shower cubicle and two cameras that film him permanently. "They tell me they placed them to prevent me from committing suicide, but in reality it’s the opposite that it does to me, it has pushed me to want to end this life," he specified.