The main accused in the trial of the attacks in Paris in 2015 apologized to the victims and asked for forgiveness.
Salah Abdeslam is on trial for his role in the atrocity that killed 130 people.
Abdeslam, 32, is the only surviving member of the cell that attacked the Bataklan City Theater, cafes and the national stadium.
He claims to have changed his mind about blowing up his suicide vest in a cafe, but prosecutors say it doesn’t work.
As he testified on Friday, Abdeslam called on survivors to “hate me in moderation.”
Image: Abdeslam was arrested on March 18, 2016. Photo: VTM via AP
He claims that the organizer of the attacks had convinced him two days earlier to join the team of suicide bombers and that the next day his brother showed him the cafe in northern Paris, where he was to explode in a crowd.
“It was a shock to me. I didn’t know how to react. I showed that I was not ready for it,” Abdeslam told the court.
“He finally convinced me.”
He said he was wearing an explosive vest on the night of November 13, when his brother and other IS extremists spread growing attacks in Paris.
“I go into the cafe, I order a drink,” Abdeslam said.
“I thought. I watched people laugh and dance. And then I realized I couldn’t do it. I told myself I wouldn’t do it, “he said, citing a sense of” humanity. “
A police expert on explosives told the court that the suicide belt was defective, but Abdeslam testified that he had deactivated it.
Image: The attacks killed 130 people on November 13, 2015
“There are no words for that,” he said.
Asked by his lawyer about his mother and her loss due to the death of her eldest son, Abdeslam began crying for the first time since the trial began in September, according to French media reports.
“I express my condolences and ask forgiveness for all the victims,” he said.
This was met with mixed reactions in court, with angry outbursts from the public.
He repeatedly asked for forgiveness for three other defendants who were tried for helping him escape.
Georges Salin, whose daughter Lola was killed in Bataklan, told France-Info radio that Abdeslam was “trying to settle [many] contradictions in his head. He is trying to solve them, but he will have a long way to go. “
Abdeslam said he left the cafe and tried to contact friends to ask for help by taking a taxi through Paris to Montrouge, where he said he removed the detonator from his explosive vest and dumped it in the trash.
He fled, first near Paris, and later fled to Brussels with friends, where he was arrested four months later.
If convicted of murder, he faces up to life in prison. The verdict is expected on June 24.
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