Defence challenge court to see Abdeslam as a man, not as a monster

On Friday, closing statements in the Paris attacks trial came to an end with pleas from the two lawyers representing Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the terrorist group which caused the deaths of 132 people in the November 2015 massacres.

"Justice has nothing to do with cruelty. It is not intended to please the crowd. If you punish this man as the prosecution demands, terrorism will have won . . . and we'll know that all this has been nothing but a farce."

Olivia Ronen's final words hung in the silence for what seemed a long time before the tribunal president, Jean-Louis Périès, uttered his usual thanks: "Merci Maître".

Ronen and her co-defender, Martin Vettes, spent nearly four hours at the bar on Friday, attempting to save their client, Salah Abdeslam, from literal life imprisonment, the worst punishment permitted under French law.

Their task, in a courtroom packed with surviving victims and those bereaved by the 2015 attacks, was not an easy one. No one likes Salah Abdeslam.

Justice cowering in a bunker

Martin Vettes began the defence by remembering his first impressions of the specially-built courtroom and the extraordinary security precautions put in place for this trial.

"It was like working in a bunker," he said, "surrounded by an army of policemen, snipers, scanners, sniffer dogs, everyone on a war footing. I had the disagreeable feeling that justice was afraid of the light of day."

Vettes was, he continued, rapidly reassured by the attitude of the victims and the bereaved families. "Do your jobs as well as you possibly can," was their clear message to the defence counsel. "Without you, there can be no justice."

And then, after more than nine months of generally serene and serious debate, the prosecution made its demands for punishment, destroying the calm with a chilling lack of mercy, implacable, like the descent of the guillotine.

"The prosecution has been too harsh," lamented Vettes.

He went on to explain the state's demand for the maximum penalty for Salah Abdeslam as a political reaction to public pressure, not as a reasonable legal assessment of the crimes committed.

Martin Vettes described his client's clear evolution since his arrest, his shift of position in the course of this trial, his request for forgiveness from the families.

"But no one here wants to believe Salah Abdeslam. His words have no value. And for that, he will spend the rest of his life in jail?

"He has refused to incriminate others, those who are here, the dead. Does that mean he has to pay for their crimes?"

And, quoting the French novelist Romain Gary to the effect that "what we call civilisation may be nothing more than a long effort to fool men about their true natures," Martin Vettes concluded by imploring the tribunal to ensure that their final judgement will "make us all better".

On Monday, each of the 14 accused will be offered a final chance to address the court.

Verdicts are expected on Wednesday evening.