The sole surviving member of a cell alleged to have carried out the November 2015 terrorist bombings and shootings across Paris insisted he was not a killer, as the nine-month trial drew to a close, reports The Guardian.
“I’ve made mistakes, but I’m not an assassin. I’m not a killer. If you convict me for murder you will be committing an injustice,” Salah Abdeslam told the special court in Paris on Monday.
“My first words are for the victims. I have already said sorry. Some of you will say I am insincere, that this is a strategy … as if apologies could be insincere given so much suffering,” Abdeslam, 32, added.
The 14 men in the dock accused of involvement in the jihadi attacks were given a last chance to speak before sentencing on Monday.
Mohamed Bakkali, accused of offering assistance to the attackers, told the court: “I strongly condemn these attacks. I am sincerely presenting my apologies to the victims. I didn’t do it before because words had no place faced with their pain.”