The man in the hat could be tried in both France and Belgium. Abrini’s lawyer, Stanislas Eskenazi, said in an interview on Friday (8 July) in La Dernière Heure that his client wants to serve his sentence in Belgium.
“It’s not for me to prevent his extradition to France but to allow him to serve his sentence in his home country,” the lawyer said. “That’s all he asks.”
Abrini is the suspected “man in the hat” seen at the footage from the terror attack at Zaventem airport.
Eskenazi considers that it is “normal” that a person accused of crimes committed in France should be tried there. “But for defendants suspected of crimes in both France and Belgium, and when most of the involvement took place in Belgium, it seems proper to me that he should be tried here.”
He does not exclude that Abrini will be extradited to France for the judicial process but that he will put to trial in Belgium for the acts in France.
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
