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A court in Belgium has found six men guilty of murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context over the suicide bomb attacks in Brussels in March 2016 that killed 35 people.
Those convicted included Salah Abdeslam, who last year was jailed for life for his role in the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 in which 130 died at the Bataclan concert hall and other venues. He has also already received a 20-year jail sentence over a separate incident in Belgium.
The six men and two others were also found guilty of participating in a terrorist group. Two men were acquitted of all charges.
The bombings in Brussels, which hosts EU and Nato headquarters, are considered the deadliest ever attack in Belgium in peacetime and came as Europe was being hit by multiple attacks claimed by the Isis terrorist group.
Over the past eight months, 10 defendants have been tried before a jury in Brussels on charges that included murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context and participation in a terrorist group. One man was tried in absentia. He is believed to have probably died in Syria.
The trial, with more than 1,200 plaintiffs, was the biggest in Belgium’s judicial history.
On the morning of March 22 2016, three Isis members detonated bombs at Zaventem airport, Brussels, and Maelbeek metro station near the EU quarter, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds more. The jury recognised three additional victims who died in the months after the attack. The bombings came three months after the Paris killings. Both assaults were orchestrated by the same terrorist network.
Many survivors and victims’ relatives were present at Tuesday’s reading of the verdict, which followed more than two weeks of jury deliberations at a secret location.
Pierre Bastin, whose 29-year-old daughter died in the attack at Maelbeek station, said the trial was “the rule of law’s response to terrorist barbarity”. It was “time to turn a page, but not for closure; there can never be closure”, he said.
Frédéric, a survivor of the Maelbeek bombing who asked that his surname not be used, said the trial had “helped [him] to understand what happened”. He said he hoped for “a sentence that corresponds to what the person actually did, with the possibility that this person can one day reintegrate into society”. After the convictions were read, he added: “Justice is done.” Mathile Reumaux, who also survived at Maelbeek, said the verdict seemed “balanced”.
Sentencing in the trial, which took place before a special court in the former headquarters of Nato on the outskirts of the Belgian capital, is expected in September or later. The six convicted of murder could face life in jail.
The defendants can challenge procedural aspects of the trial but are unable to appeal against the verdicts.
Among those found guilty of murder in a terrorist context was Mohamed Abrini, dubbed the “man in the hat” after CCTV footage showing him on the day of the attack. He left Zaventem airport without his explosive device having detonated. He was also sentenced in the Paris trial, together with several others.
Michel Bouchat, defence lawyer for Abdeslam, said that “in theory” he would be sent back to France to serve his sentence but that details still needed to be clarified. Abdeslam’s defence team had asked for him to be acquitted of the charges of murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context. Bouchat said: “The trial was of a very high level and Belgium can be proud.”
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