A court has charged a driver with manslaughter that rammed into a crowd at a festival in southern Belgium, killing six people, defense lawyers announced to local media on Tuesday.
The lawyer said that the accused Paulo F. was placed under arrest by a judge's decision at night, while another person who was in the car was charged with not helping the wounded, and he was released on bail.
"We are not dealing with a murder or assault charge as the prosecution has requested," the driver's lawyer, Frank Discippoli, told RTL radio.
"I think that the judge, after analyzing the elements of the file, was able to find out that we are dealing with completely accidental facts," he added.
Prosecutors told broadcaster RTFB late on Monday that tests showed the driver was "a little drunk".
The driver and the other person were arrested at dawn on Sunday, following the crash that killed 6 people and seriously injured 10 others.
According to media reports, the two men are close, aged 32 and 34, and were at the time of the incident returning from a night club.
The accident occurred around 5 am local time (0400 GMT) when the car rammed into a group of people who were wearing carnival costumes.
The tragedy sparked panic in Belgium, where it is customary to hold carnival parades in the streets, after it had been suspended due to the Corona pandemic.