Brussels Attacks: Wrongly Accused Suspect Seeks Exoneration After Four Years

The Brussels Chamber of Council is examining this week the referral to the Assize Court of several suspects in the March 22, 2016 attacks. The federal public prosecutor’s office is sending eight suspects to the Assize Court, two others to the criminal court, and for three others, including Fayçal Cheffou, the chamber is asked to pronounce a dismissal.

For four days in 2016, this man was confused with the man in the hat seen on the surveillance cameras at Zaventem airport, recalls RTL Info, adding that before knowing the true identity of the man in the hat, namely Mohamed Abrini, Fayçal Cheffou was indicted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and has remained so until today.

At the end of his 57-page indictment, the Public Prosecutor’s Office confirms its request for three dismissals, with apologies in addition, recounts Cheffou’s lawyer, Olivier Martins: "The federal magistrate presented his apologies by saying that all the apologies presented will not repair the ordeal he has been through. These words are what we have been waiting for since the first day of his incarceration. Personally, I have never believed in Mr. Cheffou’s guilt."

At the end of his appearance before the Chamber of Council, Cheffou exults: "Hearing apologies, it feels good. A weight has fallen on me today, it feels good. It was a nightmare. I have to systematically repeat that it wasn’t me. I am reproached for not being able to be indicted if I have nothing to do with it. It has been very difficult psychologically."

Fayçal Cheffou was cleared thanks to the fingerprints left on the airport trolley, confirming that the man in the hat was not him. After several postponements, due to the health crisis, a possible Assize Court trial will most likely take place at a date not yet specified, concludes the media.