Since the opening of the trial of the Brussels attacks, the court has had to deal with many hiccups.
This Wednesday, the president made the decision to postpone the hearings of the accused because a legal procedure on the transfers is currently in progress.
The trial is scheduled to last until the summer.
This was to be one of the first highlights of the trial of the Brussels attacks.
While the hearings of the nine men suspected of having participated directly or indirectly in these suicide attacks in March 2016 were to begin on Wednesday, the president of the assize court finally announced their postponement.
These should now be held at the end of January.
An agenda turned upside down because of legal proceedings brought by six defendants against the conditions of their transfers between prison and the courtroom.
As long as it is not settled – a hearing must be held on Friday before the judge in chambers – they refuse to participate in the trial.
Since the opening of the trial, hiccups have been almost daily, taking precedence over the merits of the case.
First there was this false start, in mid-September.
A few days before the opening of the trial, the court ruled in favor of the defense which considered that the accused's box, entirely glazed, went against European law by limiting the possibility for the defendants to talk with their lawyers.
Result: the opening of the trial was postponed by two months, the time for the Belgian Ministry of Justice to knock down the walls.
One would have thought that this setback would be the only one, it is in fact the first in a series since the resumption, on December 5.
In the first week, for example, five of the 36 jurors called in sick, raising fears of an epidemic that could lead to a suspension of the trial.
“Everything is done to humiliate us”
Above all, there was this question of the transfer of the accused which gradually became central.
From the first day, Mohamed Abrini denounced "humiliations".
“They blindfold us and put satanic music in our ears,” he explains.
At his side in the box, Ali El Addad Asufi abounds.
“I have been waiting for this trial for six and a half years, I want to explain myself, but it is not possible.
Everything is done to humiliate us and break us psychologically.
“His lawyer evokes in court strip searches, kneeling, sensory deprivation during travel, in particular the wearing of blackout glasses and headphones with music at full volume.
On the fourth day, the tension went up a notch.
That day, Ali El Haddad Asufi appears in bad shape in the box.
As soon as the hearing opened, his counsel explained that on leaving his cell, his client "was strangled so violently that he lost consciousness".
And to insist, beside himself: “I have never attended a trial in such conditions.
The hearing is suspended while a doctor examines the respondent.
In his report, he notes injuries to the neck, consistent with the armbar that the prisoner claims to have suffered.
“He says he was dragged to the ground, there are abrasions on his knee and a slight bump on the back of his head,” the practitioner adds in his report.
The federal police, for its part, wrote a report for rebellion.
“Defence lawyers put a lot of emphasis on the trial of the November 13 attacks in Paris, notes Arthur Sente, journalist for the Belgian daily
Le Soir
, which tracks hearings.
They emphasize the excellent framework in which this trial took place, which encouraged the active participation of some of the defendants.
The cell having perpetrated the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis and those of the Brussels metro and Zaventem airport being the same, six of the accused have already appeared in France.
Starting with Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini.
The testimony of the latter, nicknamed "the man in the hat" and filmed giving up at the last moment to blow himself up at the airport, is particularly awaited.
At the November 13 trial, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, he delivered his truth, accepting most of the time to play the judicial “game”.
The agility of the court hailed
However, on Monday, he let it be known through his lawyers that he would not respond to the court until the question of transfers was decided.
The other defendants who took part in the legal action took the same position.
While it is obviously impossible to know what the interim judge's decision will be and whether it will have an impact on the behavior of the accused, all observers salute the agility of the President of the Assize Court: from day to the next day, she changed her schedule – it is now the investigators who are expected to take the stand – in the hope that the respondents will collaborate later.
"The president has taken all the necessary measures for the proper administration of this trial," said Marion Roby, coordinator of the victims' association Life4Bruxelles.
And to insist:
“We have full confidence in the institutions of this country.
»
If the court was confronted with many problems, it is nevertheless far too early to pass a final judgment on the course of the hearings: the trial is indeed scheduled to last until the summer.
“There may be frustration at seeing the trial slow down and the procedural incidents being repeated, but it is far too early to speak of failure.
There is currently no indication of what direction the trial will take,” said Arthur Sente.
And to recall that the trial of the attacks of November 13 also experienced hazards and was suspended for several weeks for cases of Covid-19 among the accused.
"Perhaps from a French point of view, the beginnings may seem very complicated, but we forget that making compromises, meeting around a table to find solutions is inherent in our history and our political system",
World
Trial of the Brussels attacks: “It was not our November 13”… Six years later, Brussels has mourned
World
Trial of the attacks in Brussels: Six years later, "Molenbeek has become the place to be"
Justice
Attacks in Brussels
Mohammad Abrini
Salah Abdeslam
attack
Court case