The trial of the attacks in Brussels and Zaventem of March 22, 2016 resumed on Monday before the Brussels Assize Court, relocated to Justitia in Haren. The president of the court, Laurence Massart, began, at the request of a defense lawyer, by questioning the defendants to find out if they had undergone a strip search with genuflexion the same morning. The federal prosecutor then issued a criticism of the defendants Abdeslam and Abrini, whose chatter, she says, hinders the proceedings.
From the box, each defendant answered the question of whether they had been strip searched with a genuflexion when they were extracted from the prison. Everyone answered in the affirmative, except Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem who refused to speak. Ali El Haddad Asufi added that he had been “brutalized, adding that the police officers had “pressed him against a wall” and had “twisted his arms”.
The accused Mohamed Abrini then asked, as usual, if he could change places in the box to sit next to Salah Abdeslam. Federal prosecutor Paule Somers noted that the chatter between Abrini and Abdeslam embarrassed prosecutors and prevented them from following the proceedings. “I am right in front of them and I hear nothing,” insisted Mohamed Abrini’s lawyer, Me Laura Pinilla.
Laurence Massart also said he did not hear any discussions between the two defendants and allowed them to sit side by side as a “last experience”. Mohamed Abrini finally decided to stay in his original place.