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Lawyers Refuse to Defend Accused Paris Attacker

by VOA News

   Lawyers for Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the last year's
   devastating Paris terrorist attacks, say they will no longer defend him
   because of his unwillingness to answer questions about his alleged
   involvement in the attacks.

   "We don't think that he will speak and he will use the right to remain
   silent," Frank Berton said Wednesday in an interview with France's BFM
   TV. "In this position what would you like us to do? We said from the
   beginning... that if our client remained silent we would quit his
   defense."

   In April, Abdeslam was unwillingly transferred from a prison in Bruges,
   Belgium, to a prison in France, and has since refused to speak with his
   lawyers. He is believed to be upset about the level of surveillance in
   his jail cell.

   "When you have the feeling of being there to make social visits to the
   prison that is the moment when a decision has to be made," Abdeslam's
   second lawyer, Sven Mary, said.

   Abdeslam was arrested following a massive manhunt in his hometown of
   Brussels, Belgium, four months after the Paris attacks took place.

   Investigators believe Abdeslam was in charge of coordinating logistics
   for the group of terrorists who killed 130 people in a series of
   coordinated attacks around Paris.

   Abdeslam is the only known survivor among the group that carried out
   the attack.