Abdeslam may be handed over to France in 90 days at most

French Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas said on Saturday that Belgium will hand over top Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam to France in no more than three months.

"The definitive decision... should be taken within 60 days of his arrest or 90 days if he lodges an appeal," Urvoas said in a statement.

Abdeslam's lawyer Sven Mary said in Brussels that he would fight his extradition to France, arguing that "there is still a Belgian investigation that should be carried out".

Abdeslam rented cars and hotel rooms in anticipation of the Paris attacks and is widely suspected of having driven three suicide bombers to the Stade de France, according to The New Yorker. French police traced Abdeslam’s mobile phone to a Paris neighborhood, where they found an abandoned suicide vest in a dumptster. The vest is assumed to be his, but, according to a Paris prosecutor, he backed out of his mission at the final moment.

Abdeslam's opposition to his extradition could delay but not prevent his handover to the French authorities on a European Arrest Warrant, which the European Union introduced specifically to speed up extradition cases, legal experts said.

An investigating judge has formally charged Abdeslam with "participation in terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation," a Belgian prosecutors statement said.

Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins confirmed to a news conference in Paris that Abdeslam's refusal "does not paralyse but leads to a longer process. The decision ... in any case will happen within 90 days."

Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national who grew up in Brussels, fled Paris for Belgium by car hours after the 13 November attacks that killed 130 people, the Guardian said.

Abdeslam had called friends to collect him in Paris hours after the attacks. While they were driving him back to Belgium, the car was briefly stopped at the border and Abdeslam’s ID was checked, but he was allowed through and has been on the run ever since, the newspaper said.