Eight men were found guilty for their roles in the Islamic State’s 2016 Brussels attacks that killed 32 people and injured hundreds in Belgium’s deadliest terrorist atrocity.
(Bloomberg) — Eight men were found guilty for their roles in the Islamic State’s 2016 Brussels attacks that killed 32 people and injured hundreds in Belgium’s deadliest terrorist atrocity.
Six of the men were convicted for murder and attempted murder, and two for participating in an illegal terrorist group, in a judgment at the Brussels assizes court on Tuesday.
Judge Laurence Massart, the tribunal’s president, described the scenes of carnage to remind the court of the gravity of the crimes.
“On the spot, there was absolute chaos,” said Massart, describing how people held each others’ hands “until their death to support each other. The smell of death invaded the airport of Zaventem.”
Those found guilty include Salah Abdeslam, the jailed ringleader of the 2015 Paris terror attacks, and an accomplice dubbed the “man in the hat” after being caught on camera at Brussels airport along with two suicide bombers. He later planted a bomb in the departure hall before fleeing.
The verdict in Belgium’s largest-ever court case cost the state tens of millions of euros, lasted almost seven months and involved testimony from hundreds of survivors.
The 2016 triple suicide attack — which targeted Brussels’ international airport as well as the city’s metro system — claimed victims from a range of countries. More than 300 people were injured in the bombings which took place in a city home to international institutions including the European Union and NATO.
The trial began in December, six and a half years after the attacks hit the city on the morning of March 22, 2016. The first two bombs detonated at Brussels Airport, just outside the city limits. Later that morning, Brussels’ Maelbeek metro station was also hit.
The jury in the case retired on July 6 for their deliberation in full isolation, unprecedented in Belgian legal history. The deliberation covered nearly 300 key questions in the case.
Abdeslam was among those convicted who’d already been found guilty in June 2022 for participating in terrorist attacks in the French capital in November 2015, which claimed the lives of 130 people. He is currently serving a life sentence without parole in France.
Further hearings will take place in September, before the jury conducts another deliberation on the sentences to be imposed on the convicted defendants.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.