The Belgian Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne, assumes his responsibility and resigns as a result of the terrorist attack in Brussels last Monday, in which two Swedish citizens died. The resignation comes after learning that Tunisia had requested the extradition of the alleged terrorist, the Tunisian, almost a year and a half ago. Abdesalem Lassoued, who died hours after the Belgian police shooting attack, but that the request was not processed. “As Minister of Justice I cannot in any case interfere in the work of the magistrate. Although this is an independent judge, I take responsibility for this unacceptable error. “I’m not looking for pretexts, excuses,” he explained at a press conference this Friday night.
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Van Quickenborne explained that after the attack last Monday in the center of Brussels they requested all the Information available about Lassoued to the security services, the police and the judiciary, They discovered that a foreign police service had reported possible radicalization as well as possible death threats to a person in a reception center for asylum seekers. “Even after that we continued looking for an answer to see how things had gotten to this point,” explained the recently resigned minister.
The news, however, was about to break out and it did so first thing in the morning when they confirmed that the August 15, 2022 There was an extradition request made by Tunisia demanding the surrender of Abdesalem Lassoued. The information, he explained, was transmitted on September 1 by the prosecution but the magistrate responsible for the case He did not respond to the extradition request and the file was not processed. “This is an individual error. A monumental mistake. An unacceptable mistake. A mistake with dramatic consequences. The independence of a judge is the basis of our rule of law. “I have always defended this principle and I will continue to defend it, but as Minister of Justice, I cannot under any circumstances interfere in the decisions of a magistrate,” he continued accompanied by the Attorney General of Brussels, Johan Delmulle.