The Brussels Criminal Court delivered a judgment on Wednesday, which Belga was able to learn about on Friday, sentencing four police officers to suspended sentences of 5 to 6 months in prison. They were found guilty of assaulting three young men of English nationality on January 17, 2016 in Saint-Gilles. They are also sentenced for degrading treatment, illegal arrest and arbitrary detention. A fifth officer received a suspension of sentencing and a sixth was acquitted.
The four convicts have “used inadmissible violence against young people who did not really pose a problem, and whose arrest was not justified“, established the court.
Recall of facts
On the night of January 16 to 17, 2016, three young men took part in a work party, in a house located on avenue Brugmann in Saint-Gilles. Around 2:45 a.m., the three friends were about to leave the house to go to a nearby snack bar, when a patrol made up of two police officers showed up at the address, following a complaint for noise. nocturnal. The police asked them to go get the owner and one of the three complied, closing the door behind him. One of the policemen then put his foot in the door to block it. A few moments later, the two members of the police, accompanied by other colleagues, entered the snack bar where the three young people had gone. They tackled them to the ground, handcuffed them and then took them to the police station. The three men were beaten violently in the car and then at the police station, causing serious injuries, particularly to the face.