Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam has been charged with participation in terrorist murder and the activities of a terrorist group in Belgium a day after he was seized in a Brussels raid.
Abdeslam will fight his potential extradition to France, but he has been cooperating with police, according to his lawyer.
“Salah Abdeslam today during questioning by investigators affirmed that, and I quote, he ‘wanted to blow myself up at the Stade de France and that he had backed down,'” Paris prosecutor Francois Mollins said during a news conference.
Investigators believe that Abdeslam helped with the attacks’ logistics, including renting rooms and driving suicide bombers to the Stade de France.
Interpol has urged “extra vigilance” at European borders following Friday’s raid, believing that more accomplices may try to flee the continent.
According to Belgian prosecutors, Monir Ahmed Alaaj, who was arrested at the same time Abdeslam, was also charged with participation in terrorist murder and the activities of a terrorist group.
Three others were also detained, including Abid Aberkan, a friend of Abdeslam charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist organization and harboring criminals, and Djemila M, who was charged with harboring criminals but is not in custody. Lastly, Sihane Aberkan, Abid’s mother, was freed with no charges.
