Our colleagues from the DH announce this Monday evening that the famous criminal lawyer Sébastien Courtoy, known for having defended Mehdi Nemmouche, was found dead at his home on Monday. He was also the lawyer for one of the defendants in the trial of the Brussels attacks, which is currently taking place.
The information was confirmed to our colleagues by Henri Laquay, a lifelong acolyte of Sébastien Courtoy, in shock.
Sébastien Courtoy had learned his trade from the former lawyer Michel Graindorge, then had made a solid reputation as a criminal lawyer.
Courtoy, a sulphurous avocado that both irritates and fascinates
In January 2019, during the Nemmouche trial, we painted the portrait of a “sulphurous lawyer who irritates and fascinates at the same time”.
Sébastien Courtoy grew up in Walloon Brabant and was a pupil of the Jesuits, in Namur then in Brussels. If he might have become a doctor like his father, he preferred to study law. At 30, he is already beginning to defend his first clients suspected of terrorism. He is then known for having defended the controversial artist Dieudonné and the convert Jean-Louis Denis, says the submissive.
Accused of anti-Semitism, Sébastien Courtoy will defend himself, declaring that his mother and his brother frequented Jewish circles and that it was he who proposed to the Brussels Court of Appeal to condemn his client Laurent Louis to visit the camp. of concentration at Auschwitz, as punishment for his negationist remarks.
Our portrait of 2019: Sébastien Courtoy, sulphurous lawyer who both irritates and fascinates
