BRUSSELS, March 24 -- Salah Abdeslam, the surviving suspect of the Paris terror attacks, has asked "to be transferred to France quickly," his lawyer said Thursday.

Initially opposing to be sent home, Abdeslam wanted to return to France "to explain himself," the news channel BFMTV quoted his lawyer Sven Mary as saying.

"Salah Abdeslam has asked me to inform you that he wishes to leave for France as quickly as possible. He wants to explain himself and this is a good thing," the lawyer said.

Belgian public broadcaster RTBF reported that a Brussels court must decide on Thursday whether to extend the detention period for Abdeslam and several other suspects arrested in connection with the Paris attacks.

Abdeslam, who was arrested Friday in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, will not appear himself at the court hearing, which is expected to last all morning, RTBF added.

The 26-year-old French man, raised in Belgium, was accused of"participation in terrorist murder" that left 130 victims dead in the French capital on Nov. 13.

According to a Paris prosecutor, he had planned to blow himself up in Paris, but changed his mind.