Belgium to try Brussels bombings accused in largest ever court case

Record ID: 1700777

  • Title: Belgium to try Brussels bombings accused in largest ever court case
  • Date: 29th November 2022
  • Summary: ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM (FILE - MARCH 22, 2016) (REUTERS) PASSENGERS ROLLING SUITCASES NEAR AIRPORT / AMBULANCE DRIVING PAST THEM WITH SIRENS AMBULANCES DRIVING PAST ON HIGHWAY WITH SIRENS BUS FULL OF PASSENGERS WRAPPED IN FOIL BLANKETS DRIVING PAST ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM (FILE - MARCH 22, 2016) (REUTERS) AIRPORT TERMINAL WITH WINDOWS BLASTED OUT ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM (FILE - MARCH 21, 2017) (REUTERS) ZAVENTEM AIRPORT AIRPORT FACADE WITH RENOVATED WINDOWS SIGN READING (English): "We will always remember 22/3" PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH DEPARTURE HALL PEOPLE WAITING TO CHECK LUGGAGE IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FILE - MARCH 22, 2016) (REUTERS) EMERGENCY VEHICLES DRIVING PAST, HEADED TO METRO BLAST SCENE BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FILE - MARCH 22, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STREET CROWDED WITH POLICE IN FRONT OF MAELBEEK METRO STATION ENTRANCE WITH WHITE TENT
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2022 15:26
  • Keywords: Arrest Attack Belgium Bombing Brussels Court File Islamist militant Lawyer Metro Mohamed Abrini Osama Krayem Salah Abdeslam Subway Trial Tribunal Zaventem airport defendant explosive glass box judge juror jury selection
  • Location: BRUSSELS AND ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM / UNKNOWN LOCATION
  • City: BRUSSELS AND ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM / UNKNOWN LOCATION
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Europe,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
  • Reuters ID: LVA003307829112022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Belgium launches its largest ever trial on Wednesday to determine whether 10 accused men played a part in the 2016 Islamist bombings of Brussels airport and the city's metro that killed 32 people and injured more than 300.
    Among the 10 accused are six men already convicted in France over the November 2015 Paris attacks, but unlike the French trial which concluded in June with a decision by a panel of judges, the Brussels case will be settled by a jury.
    Presiding Judge Laurence Massart will oversee the selection of a 12-person panel, chosen from 1,000 Belgian citizens summoned to attend a mammoth selection process on Wednesday.
    Proceedings will commence on Monday in the former headquarters of NATO in a Brussels suburb.
    The trial, set to last until the end of June, will undoubtedly revive painful memories for the roughly 1,000 victims registered to attend. They include those who lost loved ones or were injured and witnesses to the twin bombings at the airport and third bomb on the metro on March 22, 2016.
    Lawyers say many are seeking to understand why they or their loved ones became targets of an Islamist attack.
    Certain relatives and victims are expected to address the court, along with a roster of some 370 experts and witnesses due to testify.
    The defendants include Mohamed Abrini, who prosecutors say went to Brussels Airport in March 2016 with two suicide bombers, but fled without detonating his suitcase of explosives, and Osama Krayem, a Swedish national accused of planning to be a second bomber on Brussels' metro.
    Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the French trial who was seized four days before the Brussels attacks, is also among the accused, along with others prosecutors say hosted or helped certain attackers.
    One of the 10, presumed killed in Syria, will be tried in absentia.
    The trial, estimated including building conversion to cost 20-25 million euros was to have started in October, but was delayed after the judge ordered reworking of the glass boxes for the defendants that their lawyers likened to animal cages.
    (Production: Christian Levaux, Clement Rossignol)
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