2023-06-12 09:38:00
After a short break in the hearing, Me Olivia Venet was about to speak for the civil party when the president put an end to the day of trial. Until then, Mes Laura Jouveneau, Marion de Nanteuil and Sébastien Delhez had succeeded each other at the bar to present the elements which, according to them, should lead the jury to declare the accused Ali El Haddad Asufi guilty of participation in the activities of a terrorist group, as well as assassinations and attempted assassinations in a terrorist context (see below). Me Venet was to continue the argument for the civil parties about the accused Bilal El Makhoukhi when the president made her announcement.
No details have filtered out as to the reasons for this unexpected suspension. Contacted by Belga, the spokesperson for the Assize Court Luc Hennart however specified that this decision was not linked to the trial as such.
Normally, the civil parties still had to present their conclusions on Bilal El Makhoukhi and Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa, then a lawyer had to discuss the damage suffered by Stib, the Brussels public transport company. Finally, three or four other lawyers had to explain the specific cases of the victims they represent.
This calendar will be reviewed, announced the president, without further details.
The hearing will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Trial of the Brussels attacks: Abdeslam’s explanations did not convince the victims
For the civil party, Ali El Haddad Asufi knew the intentions of the cell
The accused Ali El Haddad Asufi, “great friend” of the suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui, could not ignore the planned attack of the jihadist cell responsible for the attacks in Maelbeek and Zaventem, on March 22, 2016, pleaded a little earlier the civil party on Monday before the Assize Court of Brussels. The accused and the one who will be the first to explode at the airport, on the morning of March 22, met on the school benches, at the René Catigny Institute in Ixelles. Later, Ali El Haddad Asufi will make 41 visits in prison to his friend, convicted of organized crime, underlined Me Laura Jouveneau. The two men also telephoned each other daily. Between June 1, 2015 and March 22, 2016, they exchanged 261 contacts in 264 days, pointed out the civil party. “Ali El Haddad Asufi called Ibrahim El Bakraoui more often than his mother. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, who do you call so much?”
The accused will admit to having “some suspicions but nothing concrete” when he drives to the airport in June 2015 his friend, who is trying to go to Syria, continued the criminal lawyer. “For nine months, he doubts? In this case, we distance ourselves from such a person, unless we adhere to the project.”
In addition to the “unwavering friendship” of the two men, the civil party presented the elements which, according to it, constitute proof of the guilt of the accused. Described as the “registered driver” of the suicide bomber from Zaventem, hiding in hiding, Ali El Haddad Asufi helped his accomplice to look for hideouts for the cell, weapons, supplied his members with food and provided information on thefts – Americans, Russians and Israelis – planned in Zaventem the morning of the attacks, listed Me Marion de Nanteuil.
Ali El Haddad Asufi acted knowingly and provided essential assistance in the commission of the attacks, even if he should not have known all the details, which is why he must be found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist group, as well as assassinations and attempted assassinations in a terrorist context, concluded Me Sébastien Delhez
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