They are considered “little hands” Belgian Commandos on November 13, 2015. A Brussels court will deliver its verdict on Thursday, June 30, against thirteen men and a woman accused of aiding members of the jihadist cell behind the attacks. The sentence comes a day after a special court in Paris convicted 20 men (six of them in default) of taking part in France’s worst attacks on Wednesday night after a ten-month trial. The attacks in Paris and the neighboring city of Saint-Denis, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, left 130 dead, 90 of whom were killed during a concert at the Bataclan in Paris.
In Brussels, from mid-April to mid-May, 14 people were tried by the criminal court, who are accused of providing more or less significant assistance to certain authors, hosting one or the other, driving to the airport or providing false information. papers. The file is named “Paris bis”. Excluded from the French procedure, the defendants favor the vast majority of Brussels residents who were involved in the relays of Salah Abdeslam, Mohamed Abrini (both sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday) or the El Bakrau brothers, Osama Attar. the Belgian backbone of the jihadi cell. The two brothers blew themselves up during the Brussels attacks (32 victims on March 22, 2016).
One of the accused, Abid Aberkani, a cousin of the Abdeslams and their near-neighbor in Molenbeek, is accused of hiding the fugitive jihadist in his mother’s house in the last days before his arrest on March 18, 2016. Four years imprisonment. , possibly with a suspended sentence, the federal prosecutor’s office demanded against him on April 29. The prosecution pointed “Operations of Extreme Severity”while Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the November 13 command, was Europe’s most wanted man.
“I reacted like an idiot”
His fate will be among the most watched from 08:45 (06:45 GMT) on Thursday morning when the verdict is announced. Apart from Youssef Bazarouj, who is missing because he is presumed dead in Syria (and against whom five years have been required), Abid Aberkane is the alleged accomplice who has been most severely prosecuted. “For what they accuse me, I’m sorry, I reacted like a donkey.”he said at the end of the trial, regretting that it happened “Watching Videos” ISIS propaganda.
The others sought sentences of no more than three years, most of which could be suspended. This is the case of Muhammad’s brother, Ibrahim Abrini, who is suspected of having helped him get rid of his computer and the clothes he was wearing while accompanying him after returning to Belgium. “Death Column” In Paris. He was sentenced to two years in prison with a suspended sentence (i.e. probation).
Two of the 14 defendants face no terrorism charges, including Meryem El Balgit, who is charged with “forgery” for helping her husband, Farid Kharkhach, to make fake identity documents for jihadists. The latter was sentenced to two years in prison during the trial in Paris on Wednesday evening, the court rejecting the prosecution’s designation as a terrorist. Like this couple, many of the suspects tried in Brussels assured that they were not aware of the intentions. “terrorists” of those they helped. “Driving a friend to the airport has become a participant in the activities of a terrorist group. Of course, it’s easy to say after the fact.complained against the defendant’s lawyer, while another regretted that Belgian justice had “scraped the bottom of the drawer” to conduct this trial.
Source: Le Figaro
