2023-08-01 09:24:50
The former Belgian soldier arrested in Norway for death threats against Prime Minister Alexander De Croo appeared before the Brussels council chamber on Tuesday. His defense pleaded for him to be placed under electronic surveillance, arguing that Sam H. never intended to carry out an attack on the head of the federal government or anyone else. The council chamber will make its decision later this afternoon.
A psychiatric expertise was also required to judge the mental state of the former soldier. Sam H. posted a video on social media on July 7 where he was seen firing four shots at a photo of the Prime Minister. The Limburg prosecutor’s office, where the person resides, immediately opened an investigation, which has since been taken over by the federal prosecutor’s office. The latter then appointed an investigating judge specializing in terrorism cases.
The police were aware that the man suffered from psychological problems while harboring sympathies for far-right ideas. He had run into the law before. After the issuance of a European arrest warrant against him, the man was located in Norway and arrested in a shopping center in Oslo, where he had attracted attention because of an attitude deemed threatening.
His home in Bourg-Léopold had also been searched by the police but no weapon, ammunition or explosive was discovered there. Norway handed over Sam H. to the Belgian judicial authorities on Thursday evening around 8:00 p.m. The ex-soldier was heard Friday by the federal judicial police (PJF) then by an investigating judge. The latter placed him under an arrest warrant for preparing a terrorist offense and threatening to commit a terrorist act.
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