Family Seeks Justice for 20-Year-Old Moroccan Man Killed in Brussels Attack

The young man was found dying, near Place Bara in Anderlecht, before being taken to the hospital. According to the investigation, he would have been the victim of a violent attack not far from where he was found. "He was celebrating his birthday the following week and with his girlfriend, they were talking about getting engaged in September," confides Boujeema El Aamri, to La Dernière Heure. "Around midnight, the police knocked on our door to tell us that he had been hospitalized and that we had to see him at all costs, because it could be the last time..." recounts the father of Amine. Accompanied by his wife, he goes to the Saint-Pierre hospital where his son was admitted. Seeing him in a coma and on a ventilator was a "real shock" for them: "We already know it’s over, we know he’s about to die."

After several months of investigations, the investigators identified six suspects in this violent attack. They suspect a settling of scores related to drug trafficking. "Amine lived with us, his friends and his girlfriend were there (between the bottom of Forest and Saint-Gilles, editor’s note). He went there very often to see her, but we don’t know the troubles he may have had with these individuals," explains the 65-year-old man. Placed in pre-trial detention, the suspects were subsequently released. "They killed our son, but they’re walking the streets? In Morocco, they would still be in prison. His mother says, if she crossed one of them on the street, she doesn’t know how she would react. Someone kills your son, but he remains free, what would that do to you?" rages the father of Amine.

According to the investigators, one of the suspects is on the run in Morocco. The sexagenarian is convinced that this fugitive is "the culprit. He fled the day before Amine’s death. Seeing him swagger around with his Mercedes is unbearable." The Belgian media also reports that the authorities plan to refer the case, not to the Assize Court, but to the Correctional Court of Brussels for intentional assault and battery resulting in death without intent to kill. A charge for which the defendants face a 10-year sentence. For Amine’s family, this would be a "real injustice". "I’m waiting in a country of Human Rights for justice to do its job. We want answers, we want to understand why our son was taken and killed," says Boujema El Aamri.