Cold Case Stalls: Belgian Justice Struggles with Belliraj Murder Investigation After 31 Years

The hearing scheduled for Thursday, September 3, the one full of hope, did not take place due to an oversight, reports La Dernière Heure. This was the summoning of the civil parties. Amazement! In October 2016, the Brussels indictment chamber had ordered additional duties. Since then, the case has struggled to progress. Meanwhile, Abdelkader Belliraj is in prison in Morocco. He would be involved in the Brabant killings, but the justice system has not yet indicted or exonerated him.

The Belliraj affair concerns the murder of six people: that of Mr. Raoul Schouppe in Saint-Gilles on July 23, 1988; of Mr. Marcel Bille in Koekelberg on August 16, 1988; of Abdullah el-Hasi and his collaborator Salem El Behir at the Grand Mosque of Brussels on March 29, 1989; of the Egyptian driver of the Saudi Arabian embassy on June 20, 1989 and of Professor Wybran in Anderlecht on October 3, 1989. It has been 31 years since the widow of the doctor has been waiting for justice to be done.

The slowness observed in the handling of this file is explained by the desire of the federal prosecutor’s office to close it. Except that this desire is confronted with the wish of Mr. Hirsch, the lawyer of the widow of Dr. Wybran and the CCOJB, and of Mr. Vincent Lurquin, Belliraj’s lawyer, who asks to meet his client in Morocco.