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1st LD Writethru: Paris attacks key suspect charged with "terrorist murder"

Xinhua, March 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

The key suspect of Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was charged Saturday with "terrorist murders and participation in the activities of a terrorist group," said the Belgian federal prosecutor's office in a statement.

His lawyer Sven Mary says Abdeslam is working with justice after being brought before the investigating judge on Saturday, but he refuses against extradition.

An extradition request was made by the French judicial authorities. French President Francois Hollande said Friday that he "had confidence in the successful completion of the extradition request."

Abdeslam is to spend the next days in detention in Bruges, the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in Belgium.

According to Francois Molins, the Paris prosecutor, Abdeslam said during his hearings in Belgium on Saturday that "he wanted to blow himself up at Stade de France and he backtracked."

Abdeslam is one of the most wanted men in Europe. He is suspected of involvement in attacks in Paris as a logistician. These attacks killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015. Enditem