Victim testifies emotionally and trembling about attacks in Brussels: “I am here today to take back control of my life” | Interior

The woman was at the airport on March 22, 2016 when the bombs exploded. She doesn’t remember much of the day, but she does remember the image of “cattle” on the tarmac, or how they were packed away like sardines.

The now 33-year-old woman, who was very emotional and shaking in court, told how she woke up on March 23 and started living on autopilot, with severe panic attacks that made her whole body shake. “I can’t possibly control my body, I’m mad at myself for not being able to.” The fears of the woman, who was 26 years old at the time of the attacks, are triggered by all kinds of sounds: airplanes, alarms, sirens, bombs, … “I am on alert 24 hours a day. I am aware of every sound . I can’t concentrate anymore,” she said.

She talked about exhaustion, about friends and relatives she hasn’t spoken to since the panic attacks started and how she lost hope that, after a difficult childhood, her life will ever be happy and peaceful. She also often feels guilty about how she feels, she says, because many have had it even harder than she has.

The woman also expressed her anger and frustrations to the insurance psychologists, psychiatrists and expert doctors. “My legitimacy is constantly being judged and denied, including by my family who probably can’t help me anyway,” she said. She says she no longer has faith in her country, which is “broken”.

“I am a spectator of my own body. But today I am here to take back control of my body,” the woman concluded. “We all left a part of ourselves in the airport or in the subway, today I start the rest of my life.”