Nine defendants, including Salah Abdeslam, face a thousand civil parties. On Wednesday, November 30, the Brussels Assistant Court begins an extraordinary trial to identify those responsible for the 2016 jihadist attacks in Brussels. Auditions are due to open at 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) for the celebrity jury draw, scheduled for one day. The debates, which should last until June, will begin next Monday. Six and a half years after Belgium’s worst peacetime attacks, this trial promises to be the biggest ever to be brought before a Belgian court.
On the morning of March 22, 2016, two jihadists blew themselves up at Brussels-Zaventem airport, and a third blew themselves up a good hour later in the metro of the European capital, killing 32 people and injuring several hundred. The attacks, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, came four days after the November 13, 2015, capture of the only surviving member of the command, Salah Abdeslam, in Molenbeek. And investigators are quick to point out that they were carried out for that reason. The same cell is already at the beginning of the bloodshed in the French capital (130 dead in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13). At the time, these jihadists had other projects, including attacking Euro 2016 in France. But they are in a hurry after the arrest of Abdeslam.
Post-traumatic stress
Nine men are expected in the box during this trial, including the 33-year-old Frenchman and his childhood friend Mohamed Abrin from Molenbeek. A tenth, cell leader Osama Attar, will be tried in absentia as he is presumed dead in Syria. In all, six of these ten defendants have already been convicted, most of them very heavily, during the river trial that ended on June 13 in Paris. Among them is Osama Krayem, who accompanied the attacker into the Brussels metro before turning back and getting rid of the explosives. At the Paris trial, this Swedish jihadist was described as a “hardened warrior” kept quiet about his exact role in the cell.
“I really don’t expect many answers”Sandrine Couturier, a civil party that intends to come and confront the accused, told AFP. “But I want to face myself with what people can do, I have to accept that not everyone is good.”. Having been present at the time of the explosion on the train at the Maelbeek metro platform, this director of the association still suffers from post-traumatic stress. Which? “Amnesia” and: “concentration problems” which resurface as the trial approaches, he explains. Episodes of anxiety, even depression, are still very common for survivors and witnesses interviewed by AFP. Several also described their painful struggle to obtain insurance coverage for medical care. There were casualties “Abandoned to their fate by the Belgian state”.condemned a group representing about 300 civil parties.
12 full jurors and 24 substitutes
This collective, Life4Brussels, had already expressed its anger at the end of September at the announcement to postpone the trial due to the defendants’ failure to comply with European law. The originally planned equipment, a box divided into individual glass cells, caused dissatisfaction on the defense side. It had to be dismantled and replaced, which was delayed by about two months. In addition to the new box, collective and “semi-open” that offers better communication on both sides of the glass wall, eyes will turn to the jury seats on Wednesday. An unprecedented situation has arisen in Belgium, thirty-six will be appointed by the Assisi court. In addition to the 12 incumbent jurors, 24 alternate jurors will be present during the session to cover all absences. Under penalty of invalidating the trial, it is absolutely necessary to respect this number of 12 citizens to assist the three professional magistrates in the deliberation of the verdict.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.