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Added on the 13/11/2017 20:09:13 - Copyright : France 24 EN
The biggest trial in France's modern history opened on Wednesday of 20 suspects charged over the November 2015 Paris attacks that saw 130 people killed, with the expected nine months of hearings set to reopen still raw wounds. FRANCE 24's Terrorism Expert Wassim Nasr has the details.
The court was hearing defence closing statements on Friday in the trial of suspects over the November 2015 Paris attacks. FRANCE 24's Deepthika Laurent reports from the Palais de Justice in Paris.
The defense pleas follow French prosecutors' sentencing demands in the historic Paris trial of 20 men suspected of critical roles in France’s worst peacetime attack, the Islamic State massacres that killed 130 people in 2015. Final words from the defendants are set for June 27, with a verdict expected on June 29. Joining FRANCE 24 is Stanislas Eskenazi, the lawyer representing Mohamed Abrini. He asserts that "we should focus on" the day before the 2015 Paris terror attacks," when Abrini renounced his mission. "The proof being given by the prosecution is that he renounced, so he didn't go for it. And because he didn't go for it, we can't give a sentence to somebody who didn't go for it. And you have Salah Abdeslam who was there on the night of the killings. If you give a life sentence to both of them," Mr. Eskenazi says it sends the wrong message: "Go for it, because in either case scenario you go for a life sentence."
The trial over the November 2015 attacks in Paris, France's worst-ever terror assault, heard the closing arguments by the three leading prosecutors in the case. In accordance with French court procedure, the prosecutors will then lay out their assessment of the level of guilt of each accused and finally, on Friday, recommend sentencing. FRANCE 24's James André reports.
France has been holding commemorations to mark the sixth anniversary of the terror attacks in the capital that left 130 people dead.
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