BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2022) The trial over the 2016 Brussels attacks, which was scheduled to begin on October 10, has been postponed by several weeks due to protracted works on arranging a courtroom, the RTBF broadcaster reported on Friday, citing the Belgian Justice Ministry.
In early September, Brussels held preliminary hearings on the case that is expected to become the largest in Belgium in terms of the number of participants. Then the defense expressed dissatisfaction with conditions of the defendants' detention in the courtroom. In particular, individual closed cabins prevented those accused from communicating with lawyers in a normal way, which, according to the defense, violated their rights. As a result, works on arranging the courtroom were launched.
On Friday, the country's justice ministry notified the trial's participants of the impossibility of preparing the premises by the appointed date, the media outlet reported. According to the department, the works are expected to take several more weeks.
In total, there are 10 defendants in the case of the 2016 Brussels bombings. One of them has died in Syria, according to unofficial data. He will be tried in absentia. Six of the persons also figure as defendants in a trial in France over the 2015 Paris attacks. In particular, those accused include Salah Abdeslam, who has already been sentenced to life imprisonment in France for the Paris attacks.
Meanwhile, 960 people figure as affected in the bombings, which makes the trial the most significant case in Belgium.
On March 22, 2016, two explosions hit Brussels Airport, with a third bomb detonating inside a train car at Maalbeek metro station in the Belgian capital soon afterward. As a result of the terrorist attacks, 32 people were killed and over 300 were injured. The Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) has claimed responsibility for the bombings. The same terrorist cell is believed to be involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.
