Attentats de Bruxelles : la justice belge condamne Mohamed Abrini à trente ans de réclusion, Salah Abdeslam échappe à la perpétuité
The Brussels Assize Court, responsible for deciding the sentences to be imposed on eight defendants for the double terrorist attack on March 22, 2016, at Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station, did not sentence the Frenchman Salah Abdeslam to life imprisonment on Friday, September 15, contrary to what many had expected.
The court referred to a previous decision by the Belgian justice, made in 2018, when Salah Abdeslam was sentenced to twenty years in prison for a shootout with police in Forest in March 2016. However, he has been considered one of the co-perpetrators of the Brussels attacks, which he tried to deny until the end.
Mohamed Abrini, his accomplice and friend, was sentenced to thirty years of imprisonment, along with a “placement” (supervision by the parole board) of five years. The other defendants, several of whom had already been convicted for their involvement in the 2015 Paris attacks, received sentences ranging from ten years in prison to life imprisonment (Osama Krayem, who had previously been sentenced to thirty years in Paris with a two-thirds minimum term).
At the end of July, the Brussels jury, consisting of twelve members, had convicted Salah Abdeslam, Mohamed Abrini, and four of their co-defendants for “murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context.” Two other defendants were found guilty of “participation in the activities of a terrorist group,” while the remaining two were acquitted. The attacks carried out by four accomplices carrying explosives resulted in the deaths of 35 individuals. The court decided to add three additional deaths that occurred later to the initial list of 32 victims.
La procédure belge exige, après une délibération quant à la culpabilité, un autre débat portant sur les peines. Il a, cette fois, réuni le jury et trois magistrats pendant les derniers cinq jours, dans un lien tenu secret.
Tuer « des victimes innocentes et inconnues »
In what seemed like a last-ditch effort, Salah Abdeslam’s lawyers filed an urgent appeal on September 4th, aiming for their client to serve his sentence in Belgium rather than France. In June 2022, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for his involvement in the November 13th, 2015 attacks. “Sending me to France is sending me to death…” the defendant said, citing his family ties in Belgium. However, the French justice system handed him over to Belgium in July 2022, with the condition that he crosses the border by September 30th at the latest.
You still have 60.16% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
