2023-09-15 13:46:00
The jury and the court, meeting as a panel, reached on Friday, after five days of deliberation, a verdict concerning the sentences to be imposed on the eight men convicted of terrorism in the context of the trial for the attacks of March 22, 2016 in Brussels, which left 35 dead and hundreds injured. The 12 jurors and the three magistrates retired on Monday, around 12:30 p.m., to determine the fair sentence to be imposed on each of the eight culprits. The verdict and its motivation will now be read from 6:00 p.m. by the president of the assize court, Laurence Massart, during a public hearing at Justitia in Haren, indicated the spokesperson for the assize court Luc Hennart. Justitia will open its doors from 5 p.m.
As during the deliberation on guilt, which took place over 18 days in July, the actual jury and the court retired to an undisclosed location. The jurors and substitute magistrates are also locked up there. The three groups are prohibited from having contact with each other or with the outside world. The only difference with the previous deliberation: the jurors and the effective magistrates now form “the college”, which means that the three professional judges have one vote and therefore participate in votes and discussions on sentences.
On July 25, after more than seven months of debate, the jury found Oussama Atar (tried in absentia because he was presumed dead in Syria), Mohamed Abrini, Osama Krayem, Salah Abdeslam, Ali El Haddad Asufi and Bilal El Makhoukhi guilty of assassinations and assassination attempts in a terrorist context, as well as participation in the activities of a terrorist group. However, only this last charge was brought against Sofien Ayari and Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa. The last two of the 10 accused in total, the brothers Smail and Ibrahim Farisi, were acquitted.
Trial of the attacks in Brussels: Salah Abdeslam rejected his request to serve his sentence in Belgium
After a month’s break in August for the judicial holidays, all the protagonists met on September 4 to begin the debate on the sentences. The prosecution then requested a life sentence accompanied by 15 years of provision to the sentence enforcement court (TAP), the maximum sentence in Belgium, against the six co-perpetrators of the attacks. For Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa, prosecutors demanded the maximum sentence provided for by law, namely 10 years in prison. Concerning Sofien Ayari, the public prosecutor suggested that the Tunisian be returned to the sentence handed down against him in the trial of the shooting on rue du Dries in Forest, i.e. 20 years. This means that the prosecution does not require any additional punishment against the youngest of the convicts in this case. The defense believes that the college must pronounce a sentence and that this, of 10 years in prison maximum, must absorb that of 20 years of imprisonment to which his client was sentenced in 2018 for the street shooting du Dries.
Where possible, the public prosecutor also requested the forfeiture of Belgian nationality. The dual nationals Oussama Atar (Belgian-Moroccan born in Brussels), Mohammed Abrini and Ali El Haddad Asufi (Belgian-Moroccans, born in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe), Bilal El Makhoukhi (Belgian-Moroccan born in Brussels) and Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa ( Belgian-Rwandan born in Kigali) are targeted by this request.
This scenario does not apply to the Swede Osama Krayem, nor to Salah Abdeslam, of French nationality, nor to Sofien Ayari, who is Tunisian.
On the defense side, the lawyers unanimously castigated this latest requisition, described in turn as “racist”, “unworthy”, even inapplicable towards Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa who lost his Rwandan nationality by acquiring Belgian in 2001, according to his lawyer Me Lurquin. The defense also highlighted the lack of individualization of the sentences requested by the prosecution. Some criminal lawyers also engaged in technical debates on whether or not the sentence handed down to five of the men present in the box during the trial for the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris should be taken into account. An unprecedented question in Belgium, which the college had to decide.
The civil party did not have a say regarding the sentences but attended the debate on this aspect of the trial.
The reading of the verdict and the reasoning on the sentences will normally put an end to the criminal aspect of this trial, which began on December 5. A debate on civil interests will take place afterwards. A possible appeal to the Court of Cassation by either party cannot be ruled out and could lead to new procedures.
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