PARIS — Salah Abdeslam, a crucial suspect in the November Paris attacks who is thought to be the only direct participant to have survived, was handed over to France by Belgium on Wednesday, according to prosecutors in both countries.
Abdeslam, who is also believed to be connected to the attacks in Brussels last month, was the subject of a European arrest warrant, which simplifies the usual extradition process for European Union countries and makes it a purely judicial move that drops political and administrative formalities.
"Within the framework of the Paris attacks of the 13th of November 2015, Salah Abdeslam has been surrendered to the French authorities this morning," the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. "No further information will be given concerning the exact time or the circumstances of his transfer."
The Paris prosecutor's office also confirmed in a statement that Abdeslam had been turned over to the French authorities.
Abdeslam arrived on French territory at 9:05 a.m., the statement said, but it did not specify how or where he was brought to the authorities from the high-security prison where he was being detained, in Beveren, near Antwerp.
The Paris prosecutor's office said that Abdeslam would be presented later on Wednesday before an investigative judge, and that the authorities hope that charges will be filed at that point.
The French justice minister, Jean-Jacques Urvoas, said after a cabinet meeting that Abdeslam would be held in isolation in a prison in the Paris region after the judge had ruled on his detention.
Urvoas said that Abdeslam would be guarded by a team specialized in the detention of "people known to be dangerous."
Abdeslam is believed to have been part of the team of 10 Islamic State operatives that carried out a series of shootings and suicide bombings in Paris and in its northern suburb of St.-Denis on the evening of Nov. 13, killing 130 and wounding over 400.
Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French citizen of Moroccan ancestry who lived in Belgium, fled Paris to Brussels in the early hours of Nov. 14. He was the target of a four-month international manhunt before he was arrested on March 18 in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, his hometown.
Abdeslam ran a bar there with his brother Ibrahim, who detonated a suicide vest in the Comptoir Voltaire café in central Paris on Nov. 13.
French and Belgian investigators have found evidence that suggests Salah Abdeslam was heavily involved in preparations for the Paris attacks. He rented cars and at least one safe house, bought material used to make explosives, and drove across Europe to pick up other suspects.
But Abdeslam's exact role on the night of the attacks is still unclear, and experts have questioned how valuable he will be to investigators in France, although the French authorities and the families of the victims have expressed relief that a surviving participant in the attacks will stand trial.
He is suspected of driving three suicide bombers to the Stade de France soccer stadium in St.-Denis, and investigators are still trying to establish whether he had intended to carry out another attack.
Shortly after his arrest, Abdeslam told investigators that he had "backed out" of carrying out a suicide bombing against the Stade de France. A discarded suicide vest that was believed to belong to him was found in a southern suburb of Paris after the attacks.
A French criminal lawyer, Frank Berton, said on Tuesday that after meeting with Abdeslam in prison that he would defend him in France, and he told the BFM TV news channel on Wednesday that his client "would not remain silent."
Berton said that Abdeslam had to be judged "for what he has done and not for what he represents, because he is the last survivor and some would blame him for deeds and actions that are not his."
In an interview with the French newspaper Libération, Sven Mary, Abdeslam's lawyer in Belgium, was much more disparaging, characterizing his client as a "little jerk from Molenbeek" and as a petty criminal who followed rather than led.
"He has the intelligence of an empty ashtray," Mary said. "I asked him if he had read the Quran, which I have done, and he answered that he had read its interpretation online."
Mary told the newspaper that he had struggled to gain Abdeslam's trust, and that it was still unclear to him how Abdeslam had been radicalized.
"Just a year and a half ago he was clubbing in Amsterdam," Mary said. "The only explanation that I see is propaganda on the Internet that gives the impression that Muslims are the victims of injustice."
Abdeslam is also suspected of being connected to the March 22 suicide bombings that killed 32 at Brussels Airport and at a subway station in the Belgian capital, and which were carried out by members of a network that is thought to have also orchestrated the Paris attacks.
One member of that network, Mohamed Abrini, is suspected of helping with the logistics of the Paris attacks and also admitted to Belgian investigators after his arrest in Brussels on April 8 that he was one of three attackers at Brussels Airport.
Abrini, who became known as "the man in the hat" after he was captured in a surveillance video taken at the airport, is being detained in a high-security prison in the Belgian town of Bruges.
Abdeslam, who was arrested just four days before the attacks in Brussels, has denied prior knowledge of the plot, but investigators have established links between him and several of the attackers, including Abrini.
Although Abdeslam had initially indicated after his arrest he would fight extradition to France, he switched positions after the attacks in Brussels.
Abdeslam was also charged with attempted murder last week in Belgium, in connection with a shootout between the police and gunmen on March 15 in the Forest section of Brussels, three days before his arrest.