Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam 'did not shoot police'

A shootout with Belgian police that led to the capture of Europe's most-wanted man may have been criminal but it was not terrorism, his lawyer has argued.

Salah Abdeslam, who is accused of fleeing in the aftermath of the November 13 2015 Islamic State attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, refused to attend Thursday's hearing in Brussels.