Paris attacker Abdeslam appears in French court
28 Apr 2016
Terror suspect Salah Abdeslam appeared in a Paris courtroom on Wednesday but declined to address the charges against him, saying he was exhausted due to his transfer from Belgium earlier in the day.
After Belgium turned the 26-year-old suspect over to French authorities early Wednesday, elite French military police flew him to France.
He was then handed over to authorities and taken to the Palais de Justice in central Paris to appear before the investigating magistrate, CNN's French affiliate BFM-TV reported.
His next hearing has been set for 20 May, according to his French attorney, Frank Berton.
The Belgian-born French citizen, who is charged with participation in terrorist murder and taking part in the activities of a terrorist organization, will be held in solitary confinement under maximum security conditions, French justice minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas told reporters.
''A dedicated surveillance team of skilled agents, trained for detention of dangerous individuals, will be in charge of him," he said, according to BFM.
Marcel Duredon, a union representative at Fleury-Merogis Prison in the southern suburbs of Paris, confirmed to CNN that Abdeslam would be held at that institution.
Abdeslam, the only survivor of the group of men accused of carrying out the 13 November attacks in Paris, was Europe's most wanted man before he was captured last month in Brussels after a shootout with Belgian authorities.
