Belgium sends suspect to France for Paris attack trial

Belgium on Thursday transferred suspect Mohamed Abrini to France to stand trial in September among 14 people accused of involvement in the 2015 Paris attacks, sources close to the case said.

Abrini — known as the “man in the hat” from video footage — renounced to blow himself during a later 2016 attack in Brussels and is accused of accompanying the jihadists in Paris and helping provide financing and weapons.

The Belgian-Moroccan citizen, 36, was a childhood friend of the only surviving attacker Salah Abdeslam from an atrocity that saw Islamist suicide bombers and gunmen kill 130 people at the Stade de France stadium, bars and restaurants in central Paris and the Bataclan concert hall in November 2015.

Abrini has been in prison in Belgium since he was detained in the wake of the deadly Brussels attacks and still faces trial in the country.

He is set to be returned to Belgium once the French trial — expected to last around seven months — wraps up.

Belgium is also set to send two other suspects — Swedish citizen Osama Krayem and Tunisian Sofien Ayari — currently being held in custody in the country to face trial in Paris alongside Abrini.