Belgium on Thursday transferred suspect Mohamed Abrini to France, where he will stand trial in September as one of 14 people accused of involvement in the 2015 Paris attacks, sources close to the case said.

Abrini, known from a video as “the man in the hat”, did not blow himself up during the 2016 Brussels attack and is accused of having links to jihadists in Paris and helping to raise money and weapons.

The 36-year-old Belgian-Moroccan national was a childhood friend of Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving gunman who, with suicide bombers and Islamist militants, killed 130 people at the Stade de France stadium, bars and restaurants in central Paris and the Bataclan concert hall in November 2015.

Abrini has been in a Belgian prison since his arrest after the Brussels attacks and has yet to stand trial in Belgium.

He will be sent back to Belgium after his trial in France, which will last about seven months.

Belgium is also sending two other suspects to Paris, Osama Krayem from Sweden and Sofien Ayari from Tunisia, who are currently being held in Belgium to stand trial with Abrini.