‘Eight days late’: mother of terror victim Brussels does not receive a euro in compensation
The mother of a victim of the terror attack on the metro in Maalbeek can whistle for compensation. Reason: according to the calculation, she applies her application 8 days late. “Disgraceful really,” says her son. ‘So during all the misery, my mother would also have been sifting through the jumble of legislation. That’s just inhumane.’
As an indirect victim, the woman from Roeselare applied for an amount of 4,235 euros from the committee for financial aid to terrorist victims. Her son – who moved to Brussels at the time for his work as a lawyer – is a direct victim.
On March 22, 2016, Nic Reynaert (33) was in the metro heading for the Kunst-Wet when terrorist Khalid El Bakraoui detonated his backpack in the car next to his. Through the explosion bars all the windows and a conflagration spread over the wagon. Reynaert was temporarily deaf and suffered minor injuries. He saw others being electrocuted. After the attack, the man in his thirties was unable to pick up his life before the attack. The flashbacks were just colorful. He suffered from a brain injury, hearing problems, sleeping problems and anxiety attacks. Doctors also suggested post-traumatic stress
Reynaert initially tries to continue living in Brussels. Due to the persistent problems, however, he was forced to go back to live with his mother in Roeselare. According to a situation she could not perform. For example, she had been assisting her son at every medical consultation all these years. In her file, she wrote that it hurts her mother’s heart to see her son change into a person she can no longer change even remotely.
Moral damage
Nic Reynaert’s mother filed an application for compensation on the basis of moral damage, attorneys’ fees and legal costs on March 26, 2020. The committee rejected her. Not because she wouldn’t be entitled to the compensation. But because she should have submitted that document at the latest on March 18, 2020 – eight days earlier.
The reasoning of the committee is that the law prescribes that the request for financial aid to arise as a victim of terror must be made within a period of three years from the publication of the Royal Decree (kb). That kb was published on March 17, 2017 – so according to the committee, it had time until March 18, 2020.
“My physical and psychological recovery drained all her energy. When would my mother have had to find her way through the jumble of legislation,” her son asks. He also points out that the government has been negligent in providing information. “The only information brochure of the Belgian State for terrorist victims cannot even be regarded as an information brochure.”
The woman is challenging the denied compensation. The file was recently reviewed by the Council of State. The woman and lawyer Klaas Van Dorpe call the announced term too short and unfair. Because of intent of violent acts, a request for financial aid can be submitted up to three years after a court decision. That is much longer compared to terror. Because as is known, with regard to the terrorist attack – soon 6 years after the facts – there is only the prognosis that the process would not start until next year.
According to the scenarios of violent acts of violence, at least ten actions must take place in a similar way. And to get a financial compensation to get a payment.
That legal argument did not fall on deaf ears at the Council of State. It passes the hot potato to the Constitutional Court. Remarkable: a similar procedure is underway before the Council of State by a former employee of Aviapartner. She experienced the bomb attack at the airport in Zaventem and applied for a request on March 17, 2020 – according to the committee, that was on time. Only they declined request and should have chosen the woman in the end did not challenge in time. Nic Reynaert now represents this victim as a lawyer. The Council of State has yet to rule on it. “The criminal proceedings will not start until next year, but we should already be able to calculate the costs perfectly, so to speak. That is absurd and just doesn’t make sense,” says Reynaert.
needless
The lawyer has been complaining for some time that the current procedures make the prevention of unnecessary and even impossible. Reynaert is also the man who summoned the Belgian state because, according to him, there is no production on the day of the attack and important information. His subpoena also stated that the procedures for compensation for terror victims have been improved.