2023-10-22 09:52:00
Brussels Deputy King’s Prosecutor, Tim De Wolf, told the press late Sunday morning that the last trace of the extradition request for Abdesalem Lassoued, which his office had received on August 22, 2022, dates from the 12 following September. “None of the colleagues concerned remember what happened to this specific file a year ago. There is no trace of further processing,” he said, looking serious, trying to be completely transparent regarding the procedure.
“It is clear that there was no further treatment. The file was placed in a cabinet with current files, where it must be permanently available in the event that the person concerned is found during a “a police check,” said Tim De Wolf. “In order to avoid losing sight of files, a check of all current files is carried out twice a year. Due to the increasing number of files in the department concerned, this check might not take place in the spring this year,” he added. “As we have no trace of the exact itinerary of the file, it will unfortunately never be possible to give a complete answer to all the questions,” admitted the magistrate.
“It is important to emphasize that the factors cited, such as the general high workload which prevented the periodic review of ongoing files, are an attempt to explain the course of events and not to seek excuses. It is therefore true that the serious understaffing of the Brussels prosecutor’s office played a role, but if this helps to partly explain the course of events, it is not a justification”, insisted Tim De Wolf, recalling that the number of files that his office has to process increased by 25% in two years to reach 1,650 files in 2022.
The prosecutor spoke regarding the genesis of this case. It first appears that, on July 1, 2022, the Tunisian authorities reported via Interpol Abdesalem Lassoued, the author of the attack which left two dead in Brussels on Monday. Then, on August 15, the Tunisian authorities sent Belgium an extradition request for this individual.
On August 22, the Brussels public prosecutor’s office received a copy of the report with the extradition request, which specifies that the individual is wanted for a prison escape. Lassoued was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison in Tunisia in 2005 and escaped in January 2011. The prosecution also received “ancillary documents” on September 8.
The investigation into the attack in Brussels continues, searches in France and Germany
The extradition request file was then “prepared” on September 12 by “the prosecution administration”. It was indeed possible to note that “two questions for the attending magistrate were noted on the file”. This is the last trace of work by the prosecution on this case.
“We can only assume, but it remains a hypothesis and not a certainty, that within the framework of the usual mode of operation, these questions were probably discussed orally by an administrative collaborator and the attending magistrate,” Tim might only just say. From Wolf. “It is possible that the magistrate requested that the file be resubmitted later, due to too many urgent matters at that time.”
The prosecutor closed his presentation with a sort of mea culpa from his office. “The fact that [la vérification dudit dossier] did not occur due to an unfortunate combination of factors is dramatic in the current circumstances. It leaves deep marks on all the colleagues involved, who give the best of themselves every day in processing files. Society has not received what it is entitled to, which deeply hurts our sense of responsibility.”
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office will examine in the coming days how, despite the current understaffing and years of waiting for the reinforcement announced by the federal government, it can still modify its internal functioning for better efficiency.
“A magistrate must be able to defend himself”
The prosecutor general of Brussels, Johan Delmulle, declared during this conference that he strongly deplored the attacks once morest the magistrate who was in charge of the extradition request for Abdesalem Lassoued. Tunisia had sent a request for the extradition of its national to Belgium in August 2022. The man was wanted following escaping from prison in January 2011, where he was serving a 26-year sentence.
“We will, with the magistrate concerned, examine tomorrow, formally, what exactly happened, and in an objective, calm and contradictory manner,” announced Johan Delmulle. “I regret that this magistrate is publicly attacked, because a magistrate must be able to defend himself,” he said.
The Attorney General also returned to the “structural measures taken yesterday” and “thanks the Minister of Justice (resigned, editor’s note) for having taken the decision to fill and strengthen the framework of the Brussels public prosecutor’s office”. The senior magistrate recalled that the Brussels public prosecutor’s office currently has 95 magistrates, while the framework provides for 119.
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