JOIN USSurviving Paris attacker says defendants 'treated like dogs'
The last surviving member of the jihadist cell that massacred 130 people in Paris in November 2015 complained at the start of his trial on Wednesday that he and his fellow accused were being "treated like dogs".
In a rant from the dock, four hours after the proceedings got underway, Salah Abdeslam shouted that he had "never complained because after death we will be resurrected."
Twenty people are on trial over the coordinated attacks on eight venues across Paris by a team of gunmen and suicide bombers acting on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) group.
The attacks were the worst in France's post-war history.
Abdeslam, who was wearing a suicide belt, was part of the team of attackers but did not detonate the explosive device.
He has been in prison since April 2016, spending most of his time in solitary confinement.
Reacting after a malaise suffered by one of his co-accused in the dock, the 31-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan origin jabbed a finger at the presiding judge and said that while the purpose-built courtroom in the Palace of Justice in central Paris was "very nice" the accused were "treated like dogs."
"For the past six years I've been treated like a dog and I have never complained."
Earlier he had reacted defiantly when asked to confirm his identity and profession.
"There is no god but Allah," he said, stating his Islamic faith and adding that he had given up his profession "to become a fighter for the Islamic State."
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