Paris attack suspect Abdeslam's lawyers give up defence

Lawyers representing Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks, have said they will no longer defend him.

Frank Berton, who has given up representing Salah Abdeslam Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

French lawyer Frank Berton and his Belgian colleague Sven Mary have both decided to give up Abdeslam's defence as they believe he will continue to refuse to speak to police and investigators.

"Given our position, what are we supposed to do?" Berton said on BFM television on Wednesday. "We said from the beginning ... that if our client remained silent we would quit his defence."

Abdeslam is of the only surviving member of the group that killed 130 people last November in attacks later claimed by the Islamic State armed group.

Despite telling a judge that he would explain his actions at a later date when first questioned in France, Abdeslam has refused to answer questions since being transferred from Belgium in April.

Round-the-clock surveillance

The 27-year-old Belgian-born French national has written to the authorities to tell them he no longer wanted representation, according to Berton, who said he has seen his client about 10 times and regularly spoken to him on the phone.

Abdeslam has protested at the 24-hour CCTV surveillance of the jail cell where he is in solitary confinement and Berton said that was the reason for his exercising his right to remain silent.

Authorisation for the surveillance is valid for three months and Justice Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is to decide whether to renew it soon.

Berton predicted that Abdeslam will fight attempts to renew it.

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