In recent days, the Belgian press has headlined “The most expensive trial in the history of the country”after the revelations of the newspaper The last news on the total amount of the invoice for the trial of the Brussels attacks which opens this Monday, December 5 in the Belgian capital: 35.3 million euros. A sum perceived as staggering for the taxpayer, the last record having related in 2008 to 5 million euros, during the judgment of Marcel Habran, a Belgian bank robber gangster.
Nine months of hearings
This extraordinary trial must establish the responsibilities of 9 defendants in the three bomb attacks which left 32 dead and 340 injured on March 22, 2016 at the national airport of Zaventem and the Maelbeek metro station. It will take place for nine months in the Assize Court, in a court specially installed for the occasion in the cold rooms of the former headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). A cubic concrete structure erected in 1967 on the outskirts of Brussels, without a building permit and therefore illegal, was recognized in 2020 by the regional government.
The deputies nevertheless voted for 24 million euros for the renovation of the building, renamed “Justitia”. This choice is motivated both by the size of the trial and security issues, a concern that remains omnipresent. Simulations of armed attacks were also made by the police in September on this 120-hectare site.
“We are laughing stock”
Has the federal state overdone it a bit? From the preliminary hearing of September 12, a first hiccup occurred: the defendants refused to appear, considering themselves “treated like dogs”. The boxes requested by the prosecutor “to ensure the security of the debates” took the form of isolated glass booths, preventing the defendants from communicating with their lawyers and listening to the hearings. “We are a laughing stock, it’s a Belgian joke”then laments Jonathan De Traye, one of the defense lawyers.
The question of the boxes ended on October 13 with a postponement of the trial, the time to make new ones, more in line with the principle of a fair trial, for an additional cost of €235,000. Enough to provoke the anger of the 1,000 civil parties, including the families of victims and survivors. “Hearing about torture and violence about the facilities for the accused is completely inaudible to the victims”says a member of the Life4Brussels collective, which brings together 300 civil parties.
The embarrassing defection of the jurors
Shortly before the reopening of the hearings, on November 30, a second blunder caused a new outcry: the court mistakenly summoned victims of the attacks to the drawing of lots for the members of the jury. “This trial is that of our justice”headlines the magazine Mosquito. More than the facts, which traumatized Brussels in March 2016, it is the reluctance of citizens to become members of a special jury that has caused the most ink to flow in recent days.
A rain of requests for dispensation fell on the court, because of the fear which arouses the trial, as well as its duration. The activity of juror is however remunerated, and is the subject of an envelope of 1.15 million euros. Of the 1,000 people summoned at the start, 509 obtained an exemption for various and varied reasons. The 12 incumbents and 24 alternates finally drawn will assist three magistrates to formulate the verdict.
As the trial finally begins on Monday, the public interest is mixed with apprehension and curiosity. “We will have to relive this nightmare, and the assassins will not speak”, testifies a trader of Moroccan origin on a market place, in Flagey. The press, which counts the security measures taken since March 2016 in the metro and at Zaventem airport, is starting to take a closer look at the fate of the victims. Because the trial got off to a bad start and they have to fight to obtain reimbursement for health care related to their post-traumatic stress, they feel that they are largely “neglected” by the federal state.