The attacks which had touched Brussels in March 2016 left thirty-two dead and were perpetrated by the same cell behind the attacks of November 13 in Paris. The debates will start on Monday and last until June 2023.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
With nine accused facing a thousand civil parties, the Brussels Assize Court opened, Wednesday, November 30, an extraordinary trial to determine the responsibilities in the jihadist attacks which took place in Brussels in 2016. The audience opened at 9 am with the draw for the popular jury, scheduled for a day.
The debates that must last until June 2023 will start next Monday. Six and a half years after the worst attacks suffered by Belgium in peacetime, this trial promises to be the greatest ever organized before a Belgian assize court. On the morning of March 22, 2016, two jihadists had exploded at Brussels-National Airport in Zaventem, and a third an hour later in the European capital metro, causing a total of thirty-two dead and several hundred wounded.
The attacks, claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group (IS), occurred four days after the arrest in Molenbeek of Salah Abdeslam, the only living member of the commandos of November 13, 2015. The investigators quickly found that they had been perpetrated by the same cell at the origin of the bloodbath in the French capital (one hundred and thirty dead in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13).
nine accused in the box, a tenth tried in His absence
At the time, these jihadists had other projects in mind, in particular to strike Euro 2016 in France, but acted in the precipitation after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam. At this trial, nine men are expected in the box, including Mohamed Abrini, a 33 -year -old Frenchman and childhood friend of Salah Abdeslam. A tenth, Osama Atar, leader of the cell, will be tried in his absence, because he is presumed dead in Syria. In total, six of these ten accused have already been sentenced, most of all, very heavily, in the trial-flush completed in June in Paris for November 13.
Among them is also Osama Krayem, who accompanied the attacker of the Brussels metro before turning back and getting rid of his explosives. At the Parisian trial, this Swedish jihadist describes as a “seasoned fighter” has remained mutic on his precise role in the cell.
“I don’t really expect a lot of answers,” said Sandrine Couturier, civil party, who plans to come and face the accused. “But I want to confront that the human being is able to do, I must accept that everyone is not good.” Present on the quay of the Maelbeek metro at the time of the Explosion in a train, this association director still suffers from post-traumatic stress. “Memory losses” and “concentration problems” that resurface when approaching the trial, she explained.
thirty-six jurors designated during the first day
Episodes of anxiety, even depression, are still very frequent for survivors and witnesses interviewed before the trial by the France-Presse agency (AFP). Several have also described their painful combat to obtain insurance management of medical care. The victims were “abandoned to their fate by the Belgian state”, denounced the Life4brussels collective which represents nearly 300 civil parties.
This collective had already expressed his anger at the end of September at the announcement of the postponement of the trial due to a box of the accused not in accordance with European law. The initially planned equipment, a box compartmentalized in individual glass cells, had aroused an outcry on the side of the defense. He had to be dismantled and replaced, which resulted in a delay in close two months.
In addition to the new box, collective and “semi-open”, offering better communication on both sides of the glass wall, the eyes will turn to the jurors’ seats on Wednesday. Unpublished situation in Belgium, the Assize Court will designate thirty-six. In addition to the twelve holders, twenty-four alternate jurors will sit throughout the debates to overcome any absences. Under penalty of invalidating the trial, it is absolutely necessary to respect this number of twelve citizens to assist the three professional magistrates at the time of deliberation for the verdict.
