The trial for the 2016 Brussels attacks begins, a key stage for the victims

First modification: 09/12/2022 – 15:22

32 dead and many more lives “destroyed” by serious physical or psychological injuries: the victims of the March 2016 jihadist attacks in Brussels see the trial, which starts on Monday, September 12, as a key stage on the path to reconstruction for the families of the victims.

The Brussels court of first instance will begin its work with a one-day hearing to resolve procedural questions, including the order of witnesses.

On the part of the defense of the ten defendants, several lawyers intend to protest against the conditions of appearance in closed individual compartments, limiting, in their opinion, the possibility of communicating, according to documents transmitted to the press.

As for the French jihadist Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the commandos of November 13, 2015 in Paris and its surroundings (130 dead), who is among those accused in Brussels, “he will not come” to this preliminary hearing, he told the AFP his lawyer Delphine Paci, without commenting on the result.

The Brussels attacks were carried out by the same jihadist cell as the November 13 attacks in France. They were also claimed by the Islamic State organization. Three men blew themselves up, two at the airport and one in the subway, injuring hundreds of people in addition to the 32 dead.

So far, 960 civil parties have been registered in what is billed as the largest trial ever held in Belgium before a popular jury.

“My life is completely destroyed

“My life is completely destroyed, I have lost my friends, my hobby of flying,” said Philippe Vandenberghe, one of the civilian parties, a volunteer first responder suffering from post-traumatic stress and still having nightmares.

On the morning of March 22, 2016, this Brussels-Zaventem airport executive had just arrived at his office when he heard the double explosion that devastated the ground floor where hundreds of travelers were waiting to check in their luggage. With a first aid certificate, he rushed to help people who were on the ground, in the midst of thick smoke and among the remains of glass and metal.

“I intervened 18 people and I’m sure I saved a woman,” continues this 51-year-old bachelor, whom he met at his home in Leuven-la-Neuve.

Unemployed, after battling with his former employer and insurance companies over the cost of care, he is rebuilding his life by painting and training to be an ambulance driver.

On Monday morning, Philippe Vandenberghe hopes to be present to discover the suspects in his box, who are accused of “murder committed in a terrorist context” and face life in prison.

For him, the trial must be “the beginning of something else.”

“We hope that our suffering is recognized, that’s the important thing,” he said.

“It’s not worth going to court for them”

“I don’t know if we can turn the page, what happened will always exist in us,” said Sébastien Bellin, who lost the use of a leg in the attack.

“I have evacuated all the hatred (against the authors), which would drain the energy I need to rebuild myself. I also accepted my disability,” added the 44-year-old former professional basketball player. He regards the trial as “an important step on (their) way from him”.

Former police commissioner Christian De Coninck, also a civilian party and traumatized by the “war situation” he witnessed in the Maelbeek metro station (16 dead, as many as in Zaventem), will follow the hearings from a distance, doubting that the defendants provide new evidence.

“They don’t deserve my time, I don’t want to hear all that shit about their unhappy childhood, the influence of an imam or the need to fight for the caliphate,” he told AFP.

Six of the ten defendants were already implicated in the November 13 trial that ended in late June in France. Among them Salah Abdeslam, sentenced to life imprisonment in Paris, and the Belgian-Moroccan Mohamed Abrini (life sentence with 22 years of security).

After Monday’s hearing, the court must meet again on October 10 to appoint 12 regular jurors and 24 alternates. The trial will begin on October 13 and will last for at least eight months, until June.

The trial is being held in the former NATO headquarters in Brussels, an ultra-secure building temporarily placed at the disposal of the Belgian justice system.

with AFP

This article was adapted from its French original