Justice and Fairness for a Mass Murderer

"[Saleh Abdeslam had claimed] he was ready to restart something from Brussels, and it's maybe the reality."
"We found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons in the first investigations, and we  have seen a new network of people around him in Brussels."
"We have found more than 30 people involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but we are sure that there are others."
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders

"When someone comes out running toward the police, we have to ask ourselves some questions. What did he have in mind? What was he going to do? Either he wanted to get killed by the police, or he wanted to blow himself up near the police."
Belgium special federal police unit head, Roland Pacolet

"Salah is of great importance to this investigation. I would even say that he is worth gold. He is co-operating, he is communicating, he is not insisting on his right to silence. I think it would be worthwhile now to give things a bit of time ... for investigators to be able to talk to him."
"[The intelligence given by Paris prosecutor Francois Molins] is a violation. It's a fault, and I cannot let it go unchallenged.
Sven Mary, lawyer for Saleh Abdeslam 

Saleh Abdeslam -- USA Today

Mr. Mary is outraged that a French prosecutor has divulged what the 26-year-old Belgian-born Moroccan with French citizenship who directed the horrendous November 13 coordinated attacks in Paris that killed 130 people had confessed. That he "wanted to blow himself up at the Stade de France" to honour his chosen role as a suicide bomber to achieve martyrdom, but a last-minute impulse had restrained him. In his case, his spirit was willing but his will to live prevailed.

So if the man credited with master-minding many of the details and putting in place the practical protocol enabling his fellow jihadists to carry off their multi-pronged and hugely successful attack against French civil life evaded death at a moment of glory, is it reasonable then to assume that he later chose to court death while being arrested for his crime? In any event, this time it was Belgian police who demonstrated restraint, shooting him only in the leg.

Now that he is in police hands, and prior to being extradited to France where he has citizenship and where he will be judged for his actions, he has been charged by Belgian authorities for "terrorist murder". Trouble is, the 'terrorist murder' took place in France, not Belgium. France will be prepared to lay its own charges appropriate in reflection of what Abdeslam and his colleagues achieved on that fateful day that had all of Europe aghast.

If his intention, as Belgian police now state, was to commit suicide when he rushed menacingly toward them when he was surrounded in Molenbeek, to have the police shoot him mortally, how does that intention match the contention that another violent plot was being planned? Or the fact that he now seeks to hide nothing and has been cooperating with authorities? He was, after all, unarmed when he rushed toward the police.

Europe has been alerted by Interpol to be border-vigilant, should Abdeslam's accomplices attempt to make their way elsewhere in the wake of Abdeslam's capture. One accomplice has been caught, presumably many others are busy making themselves scarce. Closer border checks are recommended and authorities are cautioned to be particularly alert for stolen passports in view of the fact that many of the November 13 attackers were in possession of falsified or stolen passports.

Abdeslam's lawyer is vehemently opposed to surrendering his client to France, despite the man's Moroccan and French nationality. In response to which Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens has stated that the extradition procedure in use would likely restrict the possibility for Abdeslam to appeal. "It could take two months, two and a half months, and we will not be certain of the result before then", he observed. A time-limited reprieve.

A horrendously violent attack has taken place which claimed the lives of 130 people, most of them young, with many years ahead of them, but which a handful of vicious jihadist scum acted to destroy. But the main perpetrator of the attack resists returning to the scene of the crime, and a lawyer representing his interests is furious that his 'rights' may be abridged, while authorities are careful to ensure he has access to judicial entitlements.