After the deadly attack on Monday last week, the Belgian government announced a package of measures over the weekend to improve problems that have been prevalent in the police and judiciary for years. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) spoke on Saturday evening about “learning lessons and taking measures”.
On Monday evening, Tunisian Abdesalem L. (45), illegally resident in Belgium, shot dead two Swedish football fans and injured a third. The Swedes were in Brussels for the European Championship qualifier between Belgium and Sweden. In a video posted on Facebook, L. stated that he was a fighter for the Islamic State. After an hours-long manhunt, there was a confrontation with the police on Tuesday morning in a café in Schaarbeek – the Brussels municipality where L. lived. L. was shot by the police and later died in hospital.
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Last week, an investigation into the attack revealed, among other things, that an extradition request from Tunisia for the radicalized L. from 2022 had not been executed by the competent Belgian authorities. That was “a mistake with dramatic consequences”, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) said on Friday, after which he resigned for this “unacceptable mistake”.
The Brussels Public Prosecution Service in particular has been exposed to this in recent days. It was a so-called magistrate from the Brussels public prosecutor’s office who ignored the extradition request. During the day a press conference On Sunday, the public prosecutor’s office, Tim De Wolf, said that “society has not received what it is entitled to and that deeply hurts our sense of responsibility.”
Serious understaffing at the public prosecutor’s office played a role in the mistakes that were made, the prosecutor acknowledged. That is not an excuse, De Wolf said, only part of the explanation for why no action was taken. “The file should have been dealt with. The fact that this did not happen due to an unfortunate set of circumstances is dramatic given the circumstances.”
It is not yet clear whether there are also personal consequences for the magistrate in question. Belgian media have been publishing messages about the man in recent days. “The magistrate involved is currently being publicly judged. I deeply regret that,” said Attorney General Johan Delmulle. “I understand that there is a great social interest, but a magistrate must also be able to defend himself.”
In recent days, the Belgian Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), who is responsible for, among other things, the police force, has also come under fire. On Saturday she announced that she would not resign. “I have seen that, based on the available information, the procedures have been followed by the police,” she stated opposite VRT News.
More people for the judiciary and police
One of the measures announced is reinforcement for the public prosecutor’s office in Brussels. Due to, among other things, failure, departure or secondment, one in five magistrate posts is currently vacant. That has to change. In addition, five additional posts must be added. The Brussels police will also be reinforced, as will the railway police.
A thorough investigation into the various procedures was also announced. The so-called ‘I & P Committee’, which monitors the intelligence services and the police respectively, will investigate whether the procedures that have been followed are still satisfactory.
De Croo also wants better information exchange between the justice system, the police and the Immigration Service. For example, he wants a database with all people who have been ordered to leave Belgium. “This must then be cross-checked with the data that the police have, so that the services can act more effectively.”