A Belgian jury sentenced three perpetrators of the 2016 attacks in Brussels to life imprisonment on Friday. Report that Belgian media. Three others receive prison sentences of thirty, twenty and ten years, and the last two will receive no new sentences on top of the twenty years to which they were previously sentenced.
The ruling brings one of the largest criminal cases in Belgium to an end. The reason was the two attacks on March 22, 2016, in the Brussels metro and at Zaventem airport. Three suicide bombers killed 35 people and injured hundreds. Eight men were convicted of involvement in the attacks. Earlier this month, the Belgian Public Prosecution Service demanded life sentences for six of them.
Also read ‘If only I had been there… you might still be able to hold each other…’
Abdeslam
The best-known convict is Salah Abdeslam, who, in addition to the attacks in Brussels, was also involved in the 2015 attacks in Paris. Abdeslam has previously been sentenced to twenty years in prison in Belgium for a shooting in the Brussels suburb of Vorst, and is serving a life sentence in France. The jury decided not to add anything to those convictions.
While the criminal case was ongoing, Abdeslam had filed summary proceedings to enforce that he would not have to serve his prison sentence in France, but in Belgium. The judge ruled against him, writes broadcaster VRT, because there was not enough evidence that Abdeslam’s human rights would be violated in France. So Abdeslam goes back to France.
Also read this profile: What do we know about Salah Abdeslam?