Salah Abdeslam Adds New Lawyer to Defense Team Ahead of Brussels Attack Trial

After the trial of the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam’s defense has somewhat fallen apart. It was only last August that Delphine Paci agreed to defend the interests of the accused. A mission in which Me Bouchat is participating. "I was consulted by Salah Abdeslam. I took the time to think about it and I accepted," he told Sudinfo, specifying "that there are things to be said in this case, both in fact and in law".

The lawyer from Charleroi has joined the defense of the accused, convinced that the outcome of the trial in Brussels will be very different from that of Paris where his client was heavily convicted. He intends to contest his client’s indirect involvement in the attacks in Brussels, because during these attacks, Salah Abdeslam was in prison. He had been arrested four days earlier in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, while he was on the run since the attacks in Paris.

Since July 13, Salah Abdeslam has been incarcerated in the Ittre prison in Belgium. He will appear on October 13 before the Assize Court of Brussels, as well as eight other defendants, in the case of the March 22, 2016 attacks in Brussels. A first "technical" hearing is scheduled for Monday in this trial.