A picture released on June 1, 2014, shows the 29-year-old suspected gunman in the Brussels Jewish Museum attack, French-Algerian Mehdi Nemmouche. (AFP)
A French court on Thursday ordered the extradition to Belgium of a man suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels on May 24 that killed four people.
The court in Versailles, west of Paris, said Franco-Algerian Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, who was detained several days after the attack, should be handed over to Belgian authorities for “killings with a terrorist connotation.”
The decision was in line with a European warrant issued for Nemmouche’s arrest.
The suspect had initially said he was not opposed to his transfer to Belgium as long as he had assurances he would not be sent on to a third country, but then decided to contest the extradition.
Nemmouche, who had spent more than a year fighting with radical jihadists in Syria, did not show any emotion at the verdict.
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His lawyer, Apolin Pepiezep, said they would appeal the extradition decision, arguing that the case should be handled in France because Nemmouche is a French citizen and was arrested in France.
A man takes part in a solidarity ceremony of the World Jewish Congress after the killings at the Jewish museum in Brussels on June 2, 2014. photo credit: AFP/ BELGA / BENOIT DOPPAGNE)
He was arrested on May 30 in the southern city of Marseille in a bus coming from Brussels during a random check by customs officials.
A revolver and Kalashnikov rifle were found in his luggage — similar weapons to those used in the shooting — as was a portable camera.
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A Jewish couple was killed in the shooting, as was a French woman and Belgian man.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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