The Bataclan Mujahid Goes on Trial

Salah Abdeslam has gone on trial in Paris. The “Belgian” man is the sole survivor of the group that planned and executed the Islamic terror attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015. The most well-known action on that horrible day took place at the Bataclan Café, where ninety people were executed. Yet for some reason the Bataclan isn’t mentioned in either of the two articles below.

The trial began today, and Mr. Abdeslam declared his allegiance to the Islamic State in his opening remarks. The entire judicial process is expected to last nine months, with a possible verdict handed down next May.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating these two articles. The first was, from France24, was published yesterday, before the trial began:

The November 13 attacks: The undersides of an extraordinary trial

September 7, 2021
by Bahar Makooi

Historic and unprecedented in its size, the November 13 trial attacks required more than two years of preparation in order to set up a titanic and highly secure judicial system. Over the course of nine months, more than 300 witnesses will be heard by the Special Criminal Court of Paris, which will be charged with judging 20 accused, including Salah Abdeslam.

It is the largest criminal hearing ever held in France. In a few days, the trial of the terrorist attacks that produced 130 deaths and 350 injured in Paris and Saint-Denis will begin in the capital.

Beginning September 8 and lasting 9 months, the Special Criminal Court of Paris will be charged with judging 20 accused, including Salah Abdeslam, the lone survivor among the commandos tasked by the organization Islamic State with committing terrorist attacks in France. Facing trial, 14 accused will be present, and 6 will be judged in absentia.

A titanic judicial setup was planned because this trial is extraordinary, first of all because of the elevated number of civil parties: Almost 1,800 people of some 20 different nationalities. Some 300 witnesses will be heard, essentially next of kin of the victims and some survivors of the attacks, represented by almost as many lawyers.

This trial is also unprecedented in its emotional weight and its length: At least 145 days of hearings are scheduled until May 25, 2022. Holding a trial of this magnitude till its end constitutes a challenge without precedent for the judicial institution, particularly in a time of pandemic and a still-elevated terrorist threat.

A custom-built courtroom

From a logistical point of view, the judicial setup required two years of preparation and the construction of a special, highly-secured courtroom in the heart of the historic Palace of Justice at the Île de la Cité in Paris.

This principal courtroom will be able to accommodate up to 550 people. An ultra-modern room, without any windows, custom-built in the middle of the famous Salle des Pas Perdus, and eventually removable. About 15 other rooms of the Appellate Court will be able to be utilized to broadcast the arguments according to the number of people, for a total capacity of 2,000 seats.

A web radio for the civil parties and psychological assistance

From the main room, eight cameras, technically controlled, will film the entirety of the trial. But no image is supposed to leave the special criminal court because these recordings will be destined exclusively for the audio-visual archives of the court.

Among the thousands of persons constituting civil parties, those who don’t attend the sessions will be able to follow them on Internet radio. This will be the first time that a device of this type has been put in place for a criminal trial. Only the sound will be broadcast, in a slight delay of a half-hour, under ultra-secure conditions. A number for psychological assistance will be placed at the disposition of the listeners.

On the security side, the terrorist threat being persistent, the number of gendarmes and police has not been disclosed, but a considerable security perimeter will be in place, forcing the residents of the quarter and trial participants to undergo identity checks.

A million-page investigative file

The first witnesses are expected to take the stand beginning on Monday September 13. But before that, the president of the court will read his report, summarizing the 542 volumes of the investigative file. That is a file of a million pages, equivalent to 53 linear meters.

These historic trials filmed for the archives of justice

The victims will take the stand for five weeks, from the end of September to the end of October, telling about this night of horror in 2015. The court will interrogate the fourteen accused beginning in 2022.

Twelve of the twenty accused are facing life imprisonment. Three of accused, against whom the charges are less serious, are free under judicial supervision.

If the court keeps to its deadlines, the verdict could be rendered in May 2022.

The second article was published today by France Bleu:

November 13 attacks trial: Salah Abdeslam presents himself as “Islamic State fighter”

September 8, 2021

Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member among the commandos of the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, presents himself Wednesday as “a fighter for the Islamic State” at the opening of the trial where he is being judged alongside 19 other alleged jihadists.

The principal defendant of the November 13 attacks trial, Salah Abdeslam, declared on Wednesday in his first words to the court that “There is no divinity but Allah,” when he was asked to state his identity at the opening of the session. “First of all, I want to state that there is no divinity but Allah and that Mohamed is his messenger,” stated the only surviving member of the commandos who caused 130 deaths in Paris. When asked about his profession, he answered, “I abandoned all professions to become a fighter for the Islamic State.”

The main defendant in the “historic” November 13 2015 attacks trial, which opened this Wednesday at midday, Salah Abdeslam stands in the dock, surrounded by several gendarmes. Black beard protruding from his mask of the same color, dark, shoulder-length hair combed back, black t-shirt, he talked for a moment with his attorneys, Olivia Ronen and Martin Vettes, before sitting down and then briefly speaking.

“The accused are treated like dogs”

Later during the session, Salah Abdeslam claimed that the accused were, “treated like dogs”.

Twenty accused

Ten other accused are present in the dock. Three others, who remain free, are seated outside the dock in chairs. Most of those seated in the large room with 550 seats are black-robed lawyers, a few dozen civil parties, and journalists. In the morning, under the eye of cameras, an ultra-security convoy had left the Fluery-Merogis Prison, where the only surviving member of the jihadist commandos of November 13, 2015, Salah Abdeslam, has been incarcerated for more than five years in total isolation. On the banks of the Seine, the approaches to the old Palace of Justice had been blocked since dawn by a large security perimeter.

Filmed for posterity, this trial will take place over nine months, a duration without precedent for a criminal trial in France. “This will be, without doubt, the longest in history,” Christian Saint-Palais, the lawyer for one of the accused, told AFP [Agence France Presse]. It is also unprecedented in the scope of the file(s) — 542 volumes — in the number of civil parties — at least 1,800 — and in its emotional weight. Some 550 people will be seated in the courtroom specially constructed within the courthouse.

7 thoughts on “The Bataclan Mujahid Goes on Trial

  1. So, in addition to getting to commit mass murder for Islam, the Shahid gets to witness for Islam to the widest possible audience for nine months.
    Effing brilliant these Frogs are.
    This trial is just motivating a new generation of jihadis.

  2. Some of the victims at the Bataclan were horribly tortured before they died. They were castrated and had their eyes gouged out. I wonder if the French state wants its citizens to know about this, or would rather it went under the radar? Rhetorical question, of course.

    • Yes , I was reading about this and even saw not clear pics , it was massacre, Males have a genital removed and put their mouths , but I don’t think this corrupted clowns like Macron want even mention this , .,

  3. Wouldn’t it have been far less expensive and preferable if the police had simply shot and killed the orc (while resisting arrest of course) rather than throw away millions of euros on a courtroom circus?

    • No. But it would be a start to rise up in rage and drive these vile disgusting aliens back out. The EU and US and all the other diversifying “Uniteds” is proving to be the best divide possible to give the Muslim advantage. Being blind deaf and dumb never saved or grew anyone.

      • Logistically, driving out millions of hostile aliens is highly improbable at best. If the political will existed it might be possible to entice some of them to leave voluntarily. The problem is now multi generational with many hostile foreigners who were actually born in France even though their alligence is with the islamists who are transnational.

        No real peaceful solution exists by my estimation. When conditions become desperate enough, one or the other group will eliminate their opposite. The only way that most of those alien invaders will ever leave Europe is as a wisp of smoke from the chimney.

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