Suspects of Brussels attacks do not want to be in a glass cage
NOS News•
Several suspects of the 2016 attacks in Brussels do not want to be in court during their trial. On the first day of the hearing, six of the nine suspects did not show up because they had to sit in a glass booth.
In the former NATO headquarters in Brussels began the main procedural it. For example, the court establishes a list of facts, witnesses and parties who will be heard during the trial.
It also discusses how the suspects will be present for the rest of the trial. The court wants the nine suspects to be put in glass cells. The lawyers of the suspects have objected to this and are threatening to resign. They threaten to resign from what many Belgians see as the process of the century.
There is one cubicle in the courtroom for each suspect. The glass boxes must allow the high-security process to take place. For example, the police are afraid of an escape attempt or a hostage situation. Also, the boxes should set the messages.
The lawyers call the glass boxes inhuman and degrading. “These are not animals, these are people,” said one of the lawyers the VRT. “If those glass boxes remain, you will not have a trial,” says another lawyer. “Then all tasks and documents withdraw. Are you going to run a process for empty glass boxes?”
According to the defense, it is also very difficult to consult with contacts through the holes and groove in the glass wall.
A lawyer who assists them says that it is “particularly difficult for them to see that attention is currently being paid to the events”, according to the Flemish broadcaster.
“I will have the lawyers fight for their situations, but in this situation using words like ‘inhumane’ and ‘following’ is unbearable for those who have been victims of the attacks it starts to go.”
The first substantive hearing in the case is scheduled for October 10. Before that time, a decision must be made whether the glass boxes will remain.