The terrorist survivor of the Paris attacks Salah Abdeslam resumed his evidence late on Wednesday, after the court had heard and dismissed claims of prejudice from some of the defence lawyers. It was as if Tuesday's mass walk-out by the entire defence contingent had never taken place.
Salah Abdeslam won't name names. Even when the people named are dead.
Abdeslam's testimony
On Tuesday, he admitted making two trips to eastern Europe, to collect "my brothers in Islam, because they were in a war zone, attacked by Bachar Al-Assad, Putin, the Kurds. I couldn't leave my brothers. I knew they were there. I don't regret it."
But Abdeslam won't say who he helped transfer. He claims not to have known his passengers were on a terrorist mission.
The investigation has revealed that Abdeslam's passengers on the first trip, from Budapest to Belgium, were his current co-accused Osama Krayem and Sofien Ayari, along with Ahmad Alkaid, suspected of having made the suicide vests used in the Paris attacks.
The other journey which Abdeslam admits having made, from the German city of Ulm, was to transfer Najim Laachraoui and Mohamed Belkaïd, both since dead, Laachraoui in the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks, Belkaïd in a failed effort by Belgian police to arrest Salah Abdeslam in the wake of the Paris killings.
The presiding judge, Jean-Louis Périès, reminded the witness that thousands of others had followed the refugee route across Europe, "but they weren't offered transport in a BMW". The witness made no answer.
During Tuesday's questioning, Salah Abdeslam reacted angrily to the suggestion that he denied having driven three other groups of returnees from Syria, precisely because they were the nine men who died in the attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015.
Calmer, less provocative
On Wednesday's resumption of questioning, Abdeslam was calmer, somewhat less provocative.
He admitted that the two long road trips had been financed with money provided by Islamic State. In cash.
Salah Abdeslam told the court that, just because he was the sole survivor of the attacks did not mean he knew everything, had all the answers. "A lot is expected of me. But you are asking questions to which I do not have the answers."
And then it was the turn of Mohammed Amri, one of the accused who admits that he rented vehicles in his own name for Salah Abdeslam, but claims he had no idea the cars would be used to transport potential terrorists.
Amri explained that he had acted on behalf of Abdeslam in the car rental agency simply because his friend had previously had an altercation with the manager of the agency.
His faced cracked by a tragic smile, Amri added: "If I hadn't rented that car, I wouldn't be here."
He risks 20 years in jail if found guilty of aiding and abetting a terrorist enterprise.
The trial continues.
