Brussels attacks trial to begin on October 10, 2022
“On December 8, 2021, Laurence Massart, the first president of the Court of Appeal in Brussels, fixed the opening session of the Court of Assizes in Brussels with the suspects in the trial of the March 22, 2016 attacks on October 10, 2022 at 9 a.m. ”, said spokeswoman Anne Leclercq of the Brussels Court of Appeal on Wednesday evening.
“Due to the material circumstances of the trial, in order to avoid the ordinary courtroom in the Palace of Justice to prevent other urgent trials, the trial on the attacks in Brussels will take place at the Justitia site,” said the spokeswoman. That new courthouse, located in the former NATO buildings on Bourgetlaan in Haren, has already been used in recent months by the chamber of indictments for the trial of the attacks.
ALSO READ. Attacks in Zaventem and Brussels took place five years ago: a reconstruction from the eyes of those who experienced it (+)
A preliminary hearing will be held on Monday, September 12, 2022 to draw up the list of witnesses to be placed during the trial, according to Leclercq. “That hearing will be chaired by the chairman of the court of assizes, without accompanying judges, but with the affiliated parties.”
The jury will turn 20 on Monday, October 10, 22 at 9 a.m. The hearing on the merits of the case will begin on Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 9 a.m. Laurence Massart becomes the president of the court of assizes during the trial.
Ten suspects
The attacks of 22 March at Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station killed people and injured about 340 people. Both attacks came about four months after the attacks on November 13, 2015 in Paris and were the work of the same cell of ISIS terrorists. Three terrorists, Najim Laachoui and Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraou, were killed that day, but in the weeks and months a total of thirteen people were charged.
On September 17 this year, the indictment chamber referred ten suspects to the Assize Court in connection with the attacks. These are Salah Abdeslam, Oussama Atar, Mohamed Abrini, Sofien Ayari, Osama Krayem, Ali El Haddad Asufi, Bilal El Makhoukhi, Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa, and the brothers Smail and Ibrahim Farisi.