Belgian Court Examines Charges Against 20 Alleged Paris Attack Accomplices

The examination of the charges in this case is a very important step. All the parties involved will be heard in order to allow the Brussels council chamber to determine which of these accomplices (17 men and three women) should be granted a dismissal and who should appear before the criminal court for "participation in the activities of a terrorist group".

The investigation targets several people living in Belgium, involved in one way or another in this bloody and deadly attack. Most of these people have provided apartments, cars to the terrorists, or have lent equipment and money, or have provided or manufactured false identity documents.

The federal prosecutor’s office is convinced that even if the accused did not play a leading role in these attacks that killed 130 people in Paris and the neighboring town of Saint-Denis, and claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, they were aware that they were helping a terrorist group. "It may have been to have hidden, after the attacks, one of the alleged perpetrators or to have transported a terrorist to the airport, on his way to Syria to join the Islamic State," the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The decision of the Brussels council chamber is expected before September.