The Belgian justice system this Friday sentenced the main convicts of the terrorist attacks of March 22, 2016 on the airport and a metro station in Brussels, in which 35 people died and hundreds were injured, to harsh sentences, from 20 years to up to life imprisonment. The verdicts were announced on Friday evening, after five days of deliberations by the twelve jury members in charge of the case and the three responsible judges, during a long session in the Brussels court, where the trial took place in the last months in Belgian judicial history.
Only one of the six people convicted of terrorist murder at the end of July – two other defendants were found guilty of belonging to a terrorist group – will not have his previous prison sentences extended by further years: it is Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the November 13th commando In 2015, 130 people died in Paris. The Belgian judiciary believes that the sentences he already faces, one of 20 years for an earlier shooting in Belgium and a life sentence without the possibility of a reduced sentence in France, are “sufficient”. Abdeslam, who fled to Belgium after the Paris attacks, was arrested in Brussels a few days before the attacks. It is believed that his arrest was the trigger for the new jihadist terrorist attack in the Belgian capital. In total, six of those accused of the Brussels attacks were sentenced to harsh sentences in France last year.
This also applies to Mohamed Abrini, the “Man in the Hat”, one of the terrorists who should have detonated the explosives at Zaventem airport but refused to do so for unknown reasons. But Abrini, who is also serving a life sentence in France but can be barred at 22 years, has now been sentenced to an additional 30 years in prison for his role in the Brussels attacks.
Both convicts are expected to be handed over to France to serve their sentences after the Belgian judiciary this week rejected Abdeslam’s request to be allowed to serve his sentence in Belgium. None of them appealed the French ruling, leaving them to spend the rest or much of their lives behind bars in the neighboring country. Belgian prosecutors had requested a new life sentence for both in the same week. “He hasn’t changed, he’s still just as radicalized, he doesn’t deserve any extenuating circumstances,” federal prosecutor Paule Somers said of Abdeslam as the defendant remained impassive in the secure glass booth where the entire trial began in December after several months of delay.
Of those found guilty of murder and attempted terrorist murder at the end of July for the Brussels attacks, three received life sentences this Friday: this is Osama Krayem, of Swedish origin and also convicted in Paris (he remained silent throughout both trials) . ; Bilal El Makhoukhi and Usama Atar. The latter was tried in absentia because he is presumed dead: The jihadist group Islamic State (ISIS) announced the death of the suspected mastermind of the 2019 Brussels attacks in Syria, although the Belgian judiciary was unable to confirm this. The sixth of the six main perpetrators, Ali Haddad Asufi, was sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison.
Two other defendants, Sofien Ayari and Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa, were found guilty in July of membership in a terrorist group, but not of murder. This Friday, the Brussels court ruled that Ayari’s previous sentence of 30 years in France was “sufficient”, just like in the Abdeslam case, while it sentenced Muhirwa to ten years in prison, of which he has already acquitted seven years, according to the Belgian press . Of the ten defendants, only two were acquitted in July.
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At the end of the trial on July 25, it was also decided to increase the number of deaths from 32 to 35, as the jury considered that the subsequent deaths of three victims were directly related to the attacks, although they occurred months or even Years took later. One of them occurred in May 2022, after the victim underwent euthanasia due to the psychological suffering caused by the consequences of the attack, which was considered unbearable. Another, battling a cancer that was under control thanks to medication, had to stop treatment due to injuries sustained in the subway explosion and ultimately died on October 28, 2017. The third victim suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder and committed suicide on April 18, 2021.
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