Trial of the Brussels attacks: an accused claims to be the victim of police violence, the hearing resumes after the doctor’s opinion

The accused Ali El Haddad Asufi, through his lawyer Jonathan De Taye, denounced Thursday, at the start of the hearing, that he was abused by the police during his extraction from Haren prison. He claims to have been strangled violently and then lost consciousness.

“The situation is serious!”began the lawyer. “I’m totally hallucinating! I’ve never attended a trial that takes place under these conditions!”he denounced, referring to a treatment “worthy of a totalitarian state” once morest his client. He thus drew a parallel with the Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib, where Americans tortured many prisoners in 2003 and 2004.

Me De Taye therefore asked the president to suspend the hearing so that his client, who had been slumped on the tablet in front of him since his arrival in the box, might be examined by a medical examiner. “It is out of the question that I represent a man who is in no condition to follow his trial, because he was abused for having dared to speak!”launched the lawyer once more.

The forensic expert therefore examined, at the Brussels Assize Court, Ali El Haddad Asufi. She noted injuries to the accused’s neck and that therefore this corresponded to his version of the facts, that he was strangled following being subjected to an armbar by a policeman, when being transferred from the prison of Haren at Justitia. Nevertheless, the doctor concluded that there was no medical contraindication to the accused appearing at the public hearing. The latter, however, expressed the wish to leave the courtroom, accepting that his lawyer, Me Jonathan De Taye, represents him. All the defendants who were present in the box finally decided to leave the courtroom when the session resumed.

The day before, Ali El Haddad Asufi had indeed already denounced once once more the conditions of detention and transfer of the accused. With four others, he had also decided to leave the courtroom in protest. It is therefore a new incident which occurs at the trial of the Brussels attacks, only 4 days following the start of the proceedings. “I have a bit of the impression – it’s personal – that we are making a strategy out of a game so that the jurors have the feeling that the defendants are ultimately victims”said Philippe Vansteenkiste, director of V-Europe, the Belgian Association of Victims of Terrorism founded in 2016 following the attacks of March 22, 2016 in Brussels.

“The terrorist wants to destabilize society, he wants to attack state, he continued. If they continue, in this trial, to perhaps influence or demotivate the members of the jury and prolong the trial, the risk that this trial will not see the end is also real, it increases day by day, I would say .”

© RTL INFO

One less juror

The 3rd substitute juror was absent, Thursday morning, at the resumption of the trial of the attacks of March 22, 2016, before the Assize Court of Brussels. According to the president, the man submitted a medical certificate, suffering from gastroenteritis since last night. It is already the 4th juror who has been missing since the start of the trial on Monday, thus reducing the number of “reserve” jurors to 20 following only a few days of hearing.

The jury was formed on November 30. A total of 36 citizens were selected from a list of 1,000 people, i.e. 12 effective jurors and 24 alternates. The latter are “in reserve”, ready to replace an effective juror who would be challenged or who might no longer attend the trial for personal or health reasons. On Monday, the first day of the trial, a substitute juror and a substitute juror were absent. The juror submitted a medical certificate, but the juror did not provide a reason. The court therefore upheld this finding. On Tuesday, it was an effective juror who deserted the jury, following having slipped a medical certificate to the court. She was therefore immediately replaced by a substitute. On Thursday, it was once more a substitute juror who failed at the trial, also covered by a medical certificate. The “reserve” of jurors has therefore just melted significantly in just four days of hearings. This trial is announced for many months and can only be completed if a jury of 12 citizens is maintained.