In a significant verdict delivered by a court in Brussels on July 25, six men have been found guilty of terrorist murder, more than seven years after the devastating suicide bomb attacks that shook the city in March 2016, resulting in the deaths of 32 innocent people at the airport and a metro station. The trial, which endured for an extended period, saw 19 days of jury deliberations before the final verdicts were returned, reports BBC on July 26.
Among those on trial, several had already been convicted for their involvement in the Paris terror attacks that occurred months prior. Salah Abdeslam, aged 33, who had been arrested just days before the Brussels bombings, had previously been found guilty in France for his role in the November 2015 Paris bomb and gun attacks that tragically claimed 130 lives. Despite initially denying any involvement in the Brussels bombings, Abdeslam has now been convicted of murder and attempted murder in Brussels as well.
Another individual found guilty in connection with both bombings is Mohamed Abrini, who became known as the "man in the hat" after he was captured on CCTV fleeing Zaventem airport when his explosives failed to detonate. Unlike Abdeslam, Abrini confessed to preparing the explosives for the attacks.
Four other men were also found guilty of terrorist murder: Oussama Atar, Osama Krayem, Ali El Haddad Asufi, and Bilal El Makhoukhi. Krayem had been seen with the Metro bomber at Maelbeek, carrying a backpack full of explosives that he did not detonate. However, Atar, who was believed to have planned the Paris attacks from Syria, was tried in absentia and is thought to have died in Syria.
Two other men, a Tunisian and a Rwandan, were not found guilty of murder but were convicted of participating in terrorist activities, along with the other six. However, Smail and Ibrahim Farisi, the brothers, were cleared of all charges.
The attacks on March 22, 2016, took place within an hour of each other, with two bombs detonating at opposite ends of the departures hall at Zaventem airport, resulting in 16 fatalities. Later that morning, another blast occurred on a train at Maelbeek metro station in Brussels' European quarter, close to EU institutions, claiming the lives of 16 more people and leaving hundreds wounded.
The court made a significant ruling by considering three additional individuals as victims of the attacks, bringing the death toll to 35. Among them were Shanti De Corte, who suffered unbearable psychological illness before opting for euthanasia last year; Xavier Legrand, who died of cancer in 2017 due to wounds caused by the metro bombing, which forced him to stop treatment; and Mathieu Fischer, who tragically took his own life in 2021 after enduring years of post-traumatic stress.
The verdict has been welcomed by survivors and families of the victims, who have expressed relief at the thoroughness and dedication of the jury throughout the seven-month trial, listening to the testimonies of hundreds of individuals.
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