- Tweeter
republish
In Belgium, the trial of Medhi Nemmouche, tried for the killing of the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014, opened on Thursday in Brussels. This trial under police surveillance, during which more than a hundred witnesses will be heard, will last until March 1.
Judged for four "terrorist murders" with an alleged accomplice, Nacer Bendrer, also French, Medhi Nemmoluche, 33, recently returned from Syria at the time of the events, incarcerated life.
The hearing, which opened at 9.30 am, is devoted until Friday, inclusive, to the reading of the indictment, a document of about 200 pages. It has already been interrupted by a procedural incident concerning a civil party application.
If the Assize Court supports the prosecution's case, this anti-Semitic attack , which had moved the international community, will remain as the first attack on European soil by a jihadist fighter returning from Syria.
The trial promises to be a tussle between the defendants, who deny the facts, and the civil parties, who consider the evidence collected " overwhelming ".
According to the prosecution, Nemmouche is the man who, on May 24, 2014, around 3.45 pm, opened fire in the entrance hall of the Jewish Museum, killing a couple of Israeli tourists, a French volunteer and a young Belgian employee of the site. . A quadruple assassination executed in 82 seconds, as if it were the work of a professional killer, with a revolver and a Kalashnikov. At the time, he had recently returned from Syria, where he had fought in the ranks of what would become the Islamic State group.
"Conspiracy speech"
For the Coordination Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCOJB), a civil party at the trial, there is no doubt about the anti-Semitic nature of the assassinations of the Jewish Museum. But on the benches of the victims, it is feared that the lawyers of Mehdi Nemmouche try to minimize this aspect or even "to hold a speech of the conspiracy type".
The hypothesis of the responsibility of Israeli agents has already been mentioned half word by one of them, Me Sébastien Courtoy, during a preliminary hearing. On Thursday morning, Mr. Henri Laquay, another counsel for the main accused, simply described him as " serene, calm " before the hearing. " He will choose the moment when he speaks, " added the lawyer. The first interrogation of the accused is expected next Tuesday.
(With Afp)