At the Paris terror trial, the Belgian police on Thursday finally came to the end of this phase of their evidence, leaving the bar to families members of the dead terrorists, and other accused who are prepared to testify. The court first heard from Yassine Abaaoud, younger brother of the operational leader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
The limits were quickly established. "I am sorry for the victims, the innocent who die all over the world," said Abaaoud as soon as his identity had been confirmed, "but I'm not sure I can be much use to this trial".
That was all the 26-year-old witness was prepared to offer spontaneously.
The court president, Jean-Louis Périès, launched into a series of questions. The process was laborious, to say the best of it.
"You are the brother of Abdelhamid Abaaoud," asserted Périès. "Who among the accused do you recognise?"
"No one."
"You have been called as a witness because of your brother's implication in the events of November 2015. Other sources confirm that some of the accused were close to your brother. You must know some of them?"
"I do not. 'Know' is a big word. They are my brother's generation, not mine."
"What can you tell us about your brother's radicalisation?"
"Nothing. I can answer questions about myself, but not about other people. He left home when he was 16. We never lived under the same roof. He didn't tell me what he had in his head."
"What do you think your brother was doing in Syria?"
"I don't know."
"You have never seen the video of Abdelhamid Abaaoud dragging the bodies of victims behind a pick-up?"
"No."
And so it continued. The witness was neither inarticulate nor obstructive. He said he didn't know the answers to most of the questions posed.
Another family destroyed
It became clear that Abdelhamid Abaaoud had "kidnapped" his 13-year-old brother, Younès, and taken him back to Syria in 2014. This came as a terrible shock to this young man and to the rest of the family.
There has been no news of the brother, since presumed dead.
Yassine Abaaoud proved his articulacy by interrupting a condescending explanation from one of the tribunal members.
"I understand completely, Madame," he said. "You have to appreciate that this has not been easy for my family. We still hope that my little brother will return. We are still paying. My parents broke up. Everything changed. Our family is destroyed.
"I was a teenager. I was astonished to be accused of terrorism. I was afraid. I was alone. I was used by Belgium, by France, by Morocco."
The witness was, in fact, sentenced to two years in jail by a Moroccan court in 2016 for failing to denounce his brother.
He claims that he was unjustly accused, and that the vast majority of the material statements attributed to him by Moroccan investigators were made up.
Abaaoud also denies a claim by the accused Mohamed Abrini that Abaaoud had been involved in a money transfer involving his brother in July 2015.
"That is categorically untrue," he assured the tribunal.
"Why would Mr Abrini want to implicate you?"
"I ask myself that very question."
'Armed jihad is for the ignorant'
The day's session ended with the reading of a sworn statement signed by Omar Abaaoud, father of the family, now resident in Agadir.
The father denied any serious interest in Islam, beyond a broad respect for the Five Pillars of the faith.
He said that jihad was for the innocent or the ignorant.
"I do not understand radical Islam. I think the problem is with Muslims themselves."
He said he believed the Paris killers were either sick or mad. "They must have taken something."
He had tried to prevent Abdelhamid from leaving for Syria. "I asked the police to confiscate his passport.
"When he left, I lost two sons."
The trial continues.
