Paris attacks: Day devoted to defence of Farid Kharkhach, supplier of fake ID

Farid Kharkhach admits providing some of the false documents used by the Paris attacks killers. That crime is punishable by 20 years in jail; the prosecution wants Kharkhach to serve six. On Thursday, before an almost empty court, his young defenders asked for him to be acquitted.

This court-sketch shows Belgian judge Isabelle Panou, who's in charge of the Brussels part of the investigation into the 2015 Paris attacks. AFP - BENOIT PEYRUCQ

First, we heard the words of the man himself as he mitigated his involvement and distanced himself from the rest of the accused. His statements were read by Maître Fanny Vial.

The point was to show how far Farid Kharkhach is from any association with terrorists.

We were given legal arguments. We were asked to wonder why Farid Kharkhach is being tried in France, rather than Belgium? We were encouraged to wonder why a Brussels court sentenced the intermediary in the supply of the false papers to just five years in jail.

And then we heard Fanny Vial's colleague, Maître Marie Lefrancq, detail the personality of the accused.

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"Without knowing the individual, you can not pronounce an appropriate punishment."

"A generous man," "a good neighbour," "a loving father". We were a long way from the "greedy coward" identified by the prosecution in their final analysis. That's how contradictory criminal justice works.

This non-practising Muslim sent his son to a Catholic school. He did not support the ideology of the terrorists, nor was he linked to them through friendship. He has no criminal record.

As for the accusation of greed, Farid Kharkhach got €300 for the fake ID cards.

Card counting

Then Maître Fanny Vial took up the running for a second time, presenting a long analysis of the evidence concerning the provision of all the fake documents in the case.

There were, in fact, clear direct links between other members of the terrorist group, notably Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, and the so-called Catalogue network involved in the supply of false papers, an operation since dismantled by Belgian police.

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More difficult for the defence team are Kharkhach's accusations against the Belgian investigating judge, Elisabeth Panou.

The prisoner says he was forced by the judge to make untrue statements about his knowledge of the radicalisation of Brussels terrorist leader, Khalid El Bakraoui.

Panou has appeared before this tribunal on two occasions. Needless to say, she describes the accusation of undue pressure as ridiculous, even impossible.

The trial continues.