Jewish Museum shooting suspect ‘not opposed’ to trial in Belgium

French authorities confirmed on Thursday that the extradition to Belgium of Mehdi Nemmouche, who is suspected of killing four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in late May, will be determined on June 26.

“I am not opposed to being handed over to the Belgium authorities as long as Belgium can guarantee me that it won’t extradite me to a third country,” said Nemmouche, 29, during a 45-minute court hearing in Versailles, France.

According to his lawyer Apolin Pepiezep, Nemmouche is concerned that Belgium will transfer him to a third country once on Belgian soil. The shooting spree on May 24 saw the killing of two Israelis and a retired French woman. A young Belgian museum employee died of his injuries a week after the event.

Until the hearing, the suspect, who was arrested in Marseille on May 30, on a coach from Brussels in possession of firearms similar to those used in the shooting, had said he was firmly opposed to being extradited to Belgium.

“My client is French. He was arrested in France and one of the victims is French,” said Pepiezep at the hearing, claiming that his client would still prefer to be tried in a French court.

After a five-year jail sentence for multiple offences, the suspect spent over a year fighting in Syria within the ranks of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).