The trial sessions of the perpetrators of the jihadist attacks that claimed the lives of 32 people in 2016 began in the Belgian capital, Brussels, with the prosecution demanding the conviction of Mohamed Abrini, one of the main defendants, “for his close association with the preparation of explosives.”
On Tuesday, the prosecution called for the conviction of Mohamed Abrini as an accomplice to the suicide attacks that left 32 dead and hundreds injured in March 2016 in Brussels.
Nine people have appeared in this trial since December, including Mohamed Abrini and his childhood friend Salah Abdel Salam. A tenth person, Osama Attar, is being tried in absentia, as it is believed that he was killed in Syria.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors began the indictment hearings, based on the Attar and Ibri cases. They asked the Criminal Court in Brussels to convict the two Belgians of Moroccan origin as “accomplices” in the attacks of March 22, 2016.
They explained that Atar was the “leader” who led the group from Syria, as happened during the attacks in France on November 13, 2016, which were carried out by the same jihadist cell, while Abrini was “an active member from the first moment.”
Prosecutor Bernard Michel said of Abrini, “He is closely linked to the preparation of the explosives and to the discussions about the targets. Without his assistance, the crime would not have been possible.”
The 38-year-old was described as extremist and behind writings in which he presented the attacks as “God’s punishment” after the international coalition bombed Iraq and Syria.
On the morning of March 22, 2016, two people blew themselves up at Zaventem Airport in Brussels and another one an hour later at a metro station in the Belgian capital. The outcome was 32 dead and hundreds wounded. The Islamic State claimed these attacks.
In the case related to the Brussels bombings, Abrini is known as the “man in the hat” who was filmed by airport cameras pushing a baggage cart, along with the other suicide bombers.
“Whether it was out of cowardice or a reflex to survive, he backed out of blowing himself up, but he didn’t give up the attacks,” prosecutor Bernard Michel said, prosecutor Bernard Michel. “When he got into the taxi with the others (that morning), he knew that the operation could only lead to death,” he added.
Mohamed Abrini, like eight of his co-defendants, faces life imprisonment.
If convicted, this sentence will be added to the one handed down in Paris in June 2022, when he was sentenced to life in prison in connection with the November 13 attacks.
