Surviving Paris attacks terrorist Salah Abdeslam on Wednesday surprised the special criminal court in Paris by agreeing to answer questions about his specific mission on 13 November, 2015. While zones of doubt and mystery remain, Abdeslam did provide new information on several key issues.
That Friday night, Abdeslam drove three suicide bombers to the Stade de France, just outside Paris, where 80,000 supporters were watching the football match between France and Germany.
He then followed a route that he had scouted earlier that afternoon to the heart of the 18th district of the French capital, renowned for its bars, strip clubs and joyous nightlife.
Wearing a suicide vest, Abdeslam entered a corner café – he does not remember either the name or the precise location – earlier chosen as a target by himself and his brother Brahim.
He sat down and ordered a drink. The bar was packed. The plan was simple and terrible: to blow himself up, killing and maiming as many as possible.
"I looked around. The place was full of young people, very young people. They were laughing, dancing. I just couldn't do it. They were younger than me. I chose not to set off the explosion through humanity, not through fear."
Suicide vest 'failure'
The gaping illogic of Abdeslam's position, the driver of the stade suicide killers and several other Islamic State murderers pleading humanity, drew a mumble of disapproval from the packed courtroom. But the witness continued with "his version of the truth".
"When I got back to Belgium, of course I told the attack commanders the jacket had failed to explode. I was ashamed of my failure in their eyes."
Abdeslam was less clear about his motives for crossing Paris from north to south later that night.
He claims he was looking for a place in which he could safely abandon the suicide jacket he now knew he would never use. He did not enter the Paris metro.
Having spent some time chatting to a group of young people in the southern suburb of Montrouge, Abdeslam fell asleep in the hallway of a building, waking to meet Mohammed Amri and Hamza Attou, the two friends who drove down from Brussels thinking Abdeslam needed help following a serious road accident.
Abdeslam's mission
Abdeslam confirmed that he had been co-opted into the group of killers heading for Paris at the very last moment. Attacks coordinator Abdelhamid Abaaoud gave him his "mission" on the morning of 12 November, less than 36 hours before the events.
"He told me I was going to wear a suicide vest and blow myself up. It came as a terrible shock. I didn't know what to say. But I knew I wasn't ready for that."
Abdeslam refused to answer questions about the sudden departure from the commando of Abrini who claims, improbably, that he came to Paris with the 10 would-be killers simply to say farewell to his friends, and then left them to their final preparations.
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"I will not speak about another one of the accused, a man who is sitting beside me here in the box," said Abdeslam.
An eloquent silence that supports the theory Abrini fled in panic at the very last moment, saying nothing because he feared a violent reaction from Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
Abdeslam explained that he had been hoping to escape to the Islamic State heartland in Syria.
"My name was all over the Paris operation ... I had rented the cars, the apartments ... I had to get away," he said.
"But Abaaoud convinced me the best thing to do was take part in the attacks. I was trapped. My brother Brahim gave me the suicide vest."
'Out of the loop'
Abdeslam claims that, apart from the Stade de France and his own café, he knew nothing about the targets to be attacked by the other members of the commando group.
"I had no idea about the Bataclan, or the terraces. That was Abaaoud's way of working. He told nobody more than they needed to know."
Abdeslam had nothing helpful to add about the mysterious 13 November visit to Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam by his fellow accused, Osama Krayem and Sofien Ayari.
"I didn't know about the Bataclan. How would I know about Schiphol?"
Abdeslam seemed relaxed, he was at ease, making humorous remarks, showing no sign of hesitation or ill-temper. He seemed to be telling the truth, frequently repeating that this was his version of events, that he didn't remember everything.
Perhaps his most striking observation was that, caught between a need to escape and the peer pressure to join a murderous project, he says he found himself "living a lie that would not go away – and then became reality."
The trial continues.
