- In the trial surrounding the Islamist attacks in Brussels in 2016, six people were found guilty of terrorist murder.
- The terrorist attacks on March 22, 2016 at Zaventem Airport and in a metro station in the Belgian capital killed 32 people and injured 340.
- Three defendants were acquitted of terrorist murder charges and two accused of aiding and abetting terrorist activities.
- The sentence will be decided in September.
The verdict was reached by a jury of twelve after more than two weeks of incommunicado deliberations. According to their verdict, six defendants are guilty of attempted terrorist murder, as reported by the Belga agency. Eight of the ten defendants were found guilty of involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization.
As the court announced in the evening, the jury also decided to hold the defendants accountable for three other fatalities who died after the attacks – for example after a long illness or by suicide. The official death toll has increased from 32 to 35.
Legend:
Trial on April 3, 2023 in Brussels. The accused followed the several weeks of negotiations, guarded by special police in a glass box.
Keystone/EPA/John Thys
A total of ten men were charged with the attacks in Brussels. However, one was missing in court: it is assumed that he has probably died in Syria in the meantime. Eight defendants were charged with 32 counts of terrorist murder, attempted terrorist murder of almost 700 people and involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization. The public prosecutor had only charged the ninth defendant with the third point.
Same terrorist cell as in terrorist attacks in Paris
Before the attacks in Brussels, extremists had killed 130 people and injured 350 others in a series of attacks on November 13, 2015 in Paris. The attacks in Paris and Brussels were probably engineered by the same terrorist cell, which is why six of those convicted in Paris were also on trial in Brussels – including the main defendant in the Paris trial, Salah Abdeslam.
According to Belga, Abdeslam was found guilty in Brussels of involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder – even though he was in prison on the day of the attack. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the trial surrounding the attacks in the French capital and to 20 years in prison in a separate trial for shooting at police officers shortly before his arrest in Brussels in 2016.
According to the Belga agency, the accused Mohamed Abrini was also found guilty of all three allegations. He was supposed to detonate another bomb at Zaventem Airport, but fled and became known as the “man with a hat” through surveillance images. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment in Paris.
Sentence will be discussed from September
Public interest in the trial with more than 900 joint plaintiffs was huge. The trial was therefore conducted in the converted premises of the former NATO headquarters in the north-east of the city.
It will be about the sentence for those convicted from September: Then the jury will deliberate again.