Brussels Attack Suspects Boycott Trial Over ’Dog-Like’ Treatment

The preliminary hearing that announces the start of the trial of the Brussels attacks is already facing obstacles, particularly the issue of the boxes in which the accused must remain throughout this trial. At first, the accused presented themselves at the hearing, but six of them finally decided to return to their cells. "We are like dogs here," thundered the Tunisian Sofien Ayari, Salah Abdeslam’s accomplice, by pounding the wall of his box, reports RTBF.

"There will be no trial if these boxes are maintained," said Me Courtoy, Mehdi Nemmouche’s lawyer, during this first day of the trial. He stresses that his client and the other accused refuse to appear under such conditions. For Me Taelman, who defends Bilal El Makhoukhi, "the security device" was unprecedented. No box, which had not yet reached this stage, had passed the ECHR check," she said. "The risk exists of having to have the trial annulled if the boxes were to be judged disproportionate a posteriori," she declared.

But for the police services, the boxes were designed to ensure the safety of everyone, including the accused. But the lawyers and their clients do not see it that way. "Let’s completely demolish these grotesque boxes," demanded lawyer Sébastien Courtoy, counsel for Smail Farisi. "A lawyer and a client, it’s a duo, we have to be able to perceive his emotions, be in contact with him," explained Me Vincent Lurquin, lawyer of the accused Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa. "If every time you have to call your client - since that’s what they’re offering us - it’s not possible to work under these conditions."

For Me Delphine Paci, Salah Abdeslam’s lawyer, the boxes as designed violate the European Convention on Human Rights, specifying that her client, out of solidarity, refuses to appear under these conditions. Salah Abdeslam refuses to appear "out of solidarity". Indeed, he had made an opposite choice, telling the president "I wish to attend the hearing". But he quickly retracted. "I have decided to refuse to appear out of solidarity with the co-accused," he explained a few minutes later, denouncing the presence of glass boxes. "It is unfair when we have been promised a fair trial."

Arguments that the victims of the March 22, 2016 attacks reject, according to Me Marye Alié, who defends the interests of the Life4Brussels collective. According to her, it is a mixture of feelings recorded at the level of the victims. Some are afraid, others are angry at the attention paid to the accused today, when they are the most to be pitied in this case. "Here we are talking about how to judge them. The essential thing for the victims is the why. The victims have fears about the silence of the accused. It is important that they are in adequate conditions to express themselves and that the victims are also in good conditions to listen," hammered the lawyer of Life4Brussels. All eyes are on the president of the assize court whose decision is expected next Friday at 2 p.m., in the presence of the parties concerned.