A good man surrounded by 'barbarians, mentally ill psychopaths'

Abdellah Chouaa is suspected of having helped with the preparation of the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks which cost 131 people their lives. He risks 20 years in prison if convicted. On Friday he gave evidence about himself, and about Mohamed Abrini, another of the accused.

Security forces patrol the Palais de Justice during the Paris attacks trial (illustration) AFP - ALAIN JOCARD

Chouaa had the support of two women. His ex-wife and his current one. Neither had a bad word to say about him.

The former Mrs Chouaa testified from Belgium. She described the accused as someone of good character, a family man, very attached to the son they had together.

The witness rejected the image given to the court of Abdellah Chouaa's father, an imam suspected of extremist leanings. Other witnesses have described the father as a Salafist, a fundamentalist.

Not at all, said the former Mrs Chouaa, he is just "a man of religion who preaches the word of God". This was not the first time the court had to confront the divergence between Muslim and non-Muslim witnesses on the question of radicalisation.

As for Abdellah himself, the witness said she could not imagine her ex-husband "involved in any way in such atrocities".

Barbarians and psychopaths

The current Mrs Chouaa was initially overwhelmed by the Paris courtroom.

She said she knew none of the other accused, offered her sympathies to the victims , and described Abdellah Chouaa as a "good guy, always smiling, hard-working, really a nice fellow." She has known him since 2016.

"I am sure that my husband had nothing to do with all this. He's a good person.

"He's a million miles from these barbarians, these mentally ill psychopaths."

Better in jail than dead in Syria

And then it was the turn of the man himself.

Abdellah Chouaa denied that his father was a radical preacher. "He never encouraged us towards jihad. He's an imam, not an extremist."

In 2014, when one of Chouaa's brothers declared his intention of going to Syria to fight for Islamic State, Abdellah notified the Belgian police.

"I decided he was better off in jail than dead in Syria."

In June 2015, when his friend Mohamed Abrini wanted to go to Syria, things worked out differently. Abdellah Chouaa drove his friend to the airport. But he thought it was for a two-week holiday in Turkey. "He had a round-trip ticket."

Which Abrini never used, since he returned to Brussels via London, Birmingham, Manchester and Paris.

• Paris attacks accused Mohamed Abrini shrugs off damning evidence
• Lives and livelihoods: backgrounds of Paris attacks suspects come to the fore

Abdellah Chouaa says he has no idea what Mohamed Abrini was doing in Paris when Chouaa went there to pick him up.

Abrini himself doesn't appear to know. Or, at least, he's not saying.

The trial continues.