Belgium to Release 60 Convicted Terrorists and Radicalized Inmates by 2021

Responding to an oral question in parliament, the minister specified that 33 of these profiles can be released this year, and 27 others next year, reports De Tijd.

Thomas Renard, a researcher at the Egmont Institute, who conducted a study on the case of 557 convicted terrorists in Belgium since the 1990s, believes that the risk of recidivism is very low. The recidivism rate, he says, is around 5%; a lower rate than the recidivism rate for other criminal acts.

"The common assumption among the general public, but also among the security services, is that there is a high risk of recidivism for anyone convicted of terrorism. But my study proves exactly the opposite," says the researcher.