Brussels attacks: justice orders the end of strip searches on the accused
Of the detained defendants, six, including Salah Abdeslam, have complained of humiliating and degrading treatment, with searches requiring them to kneel down daily to check that they are not hiding any dangerous object in their private parts.
AFP - DIRK WAEM
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The Brussels Court of Appeal on Monday ordered Belgian police to stop the daily knee body searches of defendants detained in the trial of the 2016 jihadist attacks in Brussels.
This question has disturbed the participation of the defendants in the trial since December.
Salah Abdeslam refused to appear.
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This is the second decision in this direction.
The Belgian State had appealed a first unfavorable decision rendered at the end of December.
In its judgment delivered on Monday morning, the Court of Appeal "
finds (...) the absence of legal basis for the genuflections imposed on the respondents during the searches carried out by the officers of the judicial police during the transfers
" from the prison to the courthouse.
Consequently, it "
orders the Belgian State to put an end to this practice
", adds the text.
► To read also: At the trial of the Brussels attacks, repeated controversies
The attacks in Brussels, claimed by the Islamic State organization, left 32 dead and more than 340 injured on March 22, 2016. A double suicide attack took place shortly before 8 a.m. in the departures hall of Brussels airport. Zaventem, followed, an hour later in the metro in the European capital, by a third also perpetrated by a suicide bomber carrying explosives.
At this trial opened in early December, nine men are on trial for participation in these attacks, to varying degrees.
A tenth, presumed dead in Syria, is tried in his absence.
The trial should last until the summer on the ultra-secure site of Justitia, former headquarters of NATO.
Seven of the nine defendants appear detained, and the other two are free to move.
"
Degrading treatment
"
Of those detained defendants, six – including Salah Abdeslam and his childhood friend Mohamed Abrini – have complained of humiliating and degrading treatment, with the searches requiring them to kneel down daily to check that they are not hiding dangerous object in their private parts.
On December 29, in a decision rendered in summary proceedings, the Brussels Court of First Instance ruled in their favor by deploring “
the general and systematic nature
” of the searches, without individual justification.
This court noted that the “
systematic practice of body searches with kneeling (...) appears to constitute degrading treatment
” as prohibited by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Belgian State invoked security reasons.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal clarified that “
a fine of 1,000 euros
” per violation and per plaintiff will be imposed on the State if the practice does not cease no later than the ninth day following notification of the judgment.
(
With
AFP)
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