The water and energy costs in the building in Wetstraat – next to the CD&V headquarters – which are occupied by asylum seekers, are borne by the Belgian state and Fedasil. The justice of the peace ruled on Monday. On June 29, the two parties had already been ordered by the labor court to offer decent living conditions to the residents. They had appealed.
IBB
Latest update:
22-08-23, 16:56
Source:
BELGA, own reporting
For several months, some 80 asylum seekers have been occupying a former Scientology building, next to the CD&V party headquarters in Wetstraat. The collective ‘Stop the Reception Crisis’ and the owner of the building agreed that the residents may stay there for the time being, but on the condition that someone supervises the management of the building. And for that, Fedasil and the Belgian state were summoned by the activists.
The justice of the peace acknowledges that the asylum seekers deliberately used water and electricity during their occupation of the building. “But the Belgian State and Fedasil would do no good to use this mistake to exonerate themselves from any liability,” it sounds. “Because we must not lose sight of the fact that the Belgian State and Fedasil committed the first mistake, which was to fail to fulfill their obligations to receive all applicants for international protection.”
If the state and Fedasil had paid the penalty payments to which they were sentenced, the residents would have had the means to house themselves, the judge said. “The guilt of the victim, caused by the fault of the responsible person, does not absolve the latter from liability.”
“This verdict once again confirms the obvious: the attitude of the Belgian State and Fedasil, who have been violating the law and court rulings again and again for almost two years, is guilty, a thousand times guilty,” said Madeleine Genot, one of the lawyers for the occupiers.
De Moor: “You don’t just organize a reception center”
The cabinet van de Moor reports to our editors that the Secretary of State will again appeal against the ruling. “It would be completely undesirable to institutionalize the squatting of buildings,” said the cabinet. “You don’t just organize a reception center somewhere: a building must have a permit for a residential function, must be fireproof, and staff must work there.”
De Moor emphasizes that “the waiting list is maintained for entry into the Fedasil reception network and that no specific action is foreseen to give them priority in any way”. “A lot of people have already been included in the reception network of Fedasil with regard to that verdict. It is not the case that places are not made available for these people.”
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