2023-12-20 18:24:00
Freddy Horion, who murdered an entire family in 1979, should no longer be in prison, following 44 years of incarceration. The Antwerp Court of Appeal rules that he must stay in an institution outside the prison for a maximum of five months, at the expense of the Belgian state. The latter will have to pay penalties of 1,000 euros per day of delay, Het Laatste Nieuws wrote on Wednesday.
Horion, who murdered six people and is Belgium’s oldest prisoner, was sentenced to death in 1980, later commuted to life in prison. In May, he won his case before the European Court of Human Rights, as the Belgian state offered him no prospect of early release.
“It has been judged that a longer detention of my client is no longer an option,” lawyer Jurgen Millen told the Flemish daily. “Freddy Horion must of course also have the opportunity to prepare for his return to society. This is where the Belgian state made a mistake.”
The lawyer emphasizes that treatment in an institution aims to prepare the prisoner’s return to society. “It might be that Freddy Horion will be completely free in the relatively short term.”
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