The trial of the Brussels attacks opens on Wednesday, November 30 in the Belgian capital.
On March 22, 2006, three suicide bombers blew themselves up at Brussels-Zaventem airport and in the metro, killing 32 and injuring 340.
The first week will be devoted to the appeal of the civil parties, the debates will not begin until December 5.
The attack, claimed by Daesh, was organized by the same jihadist cell as that responsible for the Paris attacks on November 13, 2015, whose members were almost all from Molenbeek.
Six years after the tragedy, if Brussels has forgotten nothing of this day, Belgium has "moved on to something else".
From our special correspondent in Molenbeek (Belgium),
It is 9:30 am when the train stops on the platform of Maelbeek station, on lines 1 and 5 of the Brussels metro.
Briefcases in hand, about thirty workers rush to go up one by one the steps of the stairs leading to the central hall of the station.
Once past the turnstiles, travelers proceed to one of four exits.
And like every day, they pass in front of the huge panel installed in tribute to the victims of the attack of March 22, 2016. But no one pays attention to it.
However, it is difficult to ignore this fresco of two meters in length.
“Hell began for us here.
Steal my Sabrina, my niece, my goddaughter", "that morning, in the metro, I experienced horror, the unspeakable", "thank you for these ten years of love my darling, rest in peace" ... Hundreds of heartbreaking messages from relatives of victims, survivors and anonymous people were inscribed, scattered around a heart drawn with the symbols of the city.
Six years after the three suicide operations that took the lives of 32 people - including 16 in the metro - the memorial has almost melted into the background.
“It's as if Brussels had moved on,” explains Marc, who manages the restaurant Le Galia, located a few meters from the station.
It was difficult the first days, but life resumed its course.
A forced return to normal life
At the exit of the metro, rue de la Loi, you have to tilt your head back to see the sky, as the buildings are so high.
Over several hundred meters, dozens of buildings with mirrored windows follow one another.
European Commission, European Council, Council of the European Union... It is difficult to ignore the theme of the district.
After ten minutes of walking, it is between the Robert Schuman roundabout and the Parc du Cinquantenaire that we come across the second monument in homage to the victims.
But, there again, this memorial, twenty meters long and two meters high, entitled “Always standing”, does not attract crowds.
A few meters away, headphones grafted onto her ears, Roseline walks Murphy, her 5-year-old dog.
At the end of the leash, the little Spitz slaloms between the stainless steel plates that make up the building.
For this resident of the district, who has always been doing her morning walk in the same place, the monument has almost become invisible.
“I walk Murphy every day here, but I admit that, even seeing the memorial, I don't necessarily think about it.
It's out of our heads, we don't talk about it anymore, "
recognizes the forties.
If Brussels does not seem to bear the scars of these attacks, it is also because of the location of the attacks, explains Louis Colart, journalist for the Belgian daily
Le Soir.
“The locations are quite different from the Paris attacks.
It is not terraces or party venues that were targeted.
We were in the metro and the airport.
I don't think it's as entrenched as in France, ”analyzes this specialist in Belgian police, justice and intelligence issues.
Maelbeek station remained closed for several weeks after the attack, while the investigation and repairs took place, but the people of Brussels had to quickly resume the metro and the course of their lives.
“We had to go back to transport the next day.
Somehow, this return to everyday life acted like a bandage,” continues Marc, leaning on his counter.
Six years after the tragedy, Louis Colart no longer feels any stress in transport.
“In Brussels, there is not this anxiety
that you can perhaps have, for a moment, while having a drink on a terrace in Paris or going to see a concert.
These attacks, it was not our 13-November to us, ”he explains.
A much lower expectation than in Paris
Despite its desire to move forward - without ever forgetting -, Brussels will still have to go back six years, in the horror of this morning of March 22, 2016. For several months, the Court of Assizes of Brussels will judge ten people, suspected of being involved to varying degrees in the attacks on Brussels-Zaventem airport and the metro - including Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini.
Because the trial which opens on November 30 is extraordinary: nearly a thousand people have joined as civil parties and more than 350 witnesses are expected at the bar.
Web journalist at the material time, Louis Colart will carefully follow the hundreds of days of hearings with his colleagues.
But he is aware that the population may not be as diligent.
"In some respects, this is the biggest trial in Belgian history," he said.
But I don't think people who weren't directly victimized hope for anything.
Expectations are much lower than in Paris”.
Because the trial of the attack of November 13, 2015, which ended at the end of June in the French capital, has already made it possible to shed - in part - on this attack, perpetrated by the same jihadist cell as that of Brussels.
“The Franco-Belgian investigation made it possible to understand how this cell was set up, who were the actors, what was their goal.
There are no longer many doubts on the merits, ”he adds.
The status of the victims in question
It is more the voice of the victims that will be the highlight of this trial.
“There are still a few points to be clarified, but they will not take center stage.
It is the testimonies of the victims that the population is waiting for.
She followed the Parisian trial and she saw that it was one of the highlights, ”continues Louis Colart.
Even more, it is the recognition of the status of victims that concerns the population of Brussels.
Because unlike France, which created its own in 1986, there is no public compensation fund for victims of terrorism in Belgium.
It is the insurance companies that take care of compensating them, sometimes causing a real administrative headache.
At the time of the opening of the trial, some have still not received a single euro.
“It is absolutely necessary to settle this question, it is shameful.
But for the rest of the population, we have made progress, we do not want victimism.
The important thing is that it can never happen again,” concludes Roseline.
She stares, for a moment, at the wreath placed at the foot of the memorial.
Then she looks away and leaves, Murphy in her wake.
Life resumed its course.
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