The trial of the attacks of March 22, 2016 begins this Monday in Belgium. This is a formal overture because it is a “preliminary hearing” intended to settle organizational issues, but it is nonetheless eagerly awaited by the civil parties.
With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet
On March 22, 2016 at 7:58 a.m. at Zaventem airport then at 9:11 a.m. at Maelbeek metro station, the attacks left 340 injured and 32 dead, plus three terrorists. The terrorist cell is the same as that of the Paris attacks six months earlier.
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They are nine defendants summoned to appear this Monday in Brussels for this trial, six and a half years after the facts. Among them is obviously Salah Abdeslamwho also refused to be present for this preliminary hearing. There will also be Mohammad Abrini“the man with the hat”, the one who, twice – in November 2015 in Paris and in March 2016 in Brussels – has given up on dying.
960 civil parties
The other defendants are also directly involved in the execution or preparation of the attacks. Two of them, the Farisi brothers, are only accused of having rented one of their caches to the terrorists. A tenth defendant, Osama Attar, will be tried in absentia because he has been presumed dead for five years.
Opposite, 960 civil parties, victims, associations of victims as well as relatives of people who died during the attacks.
The hearing on Monday is intended to establish the final list of witnesses and their order of appearance. It is only on October 10 that the hearings will resume for the appointment of the twelve members of the jury since it is of an assize trial. The start of the trial is scheduled for October 13 and is expected to last six to nine months.