The accused in the trial of the 2016 jihadist attacks in Brussels will no longer be able to undergo systematic strip searches, a judge in chambers decided on Thursday, ordering the Belgian State to stop this practice at the heart of a controversy which had led to a postponement of the interrogations.
Six of the nine accused detainees appearing at the assizes filed a legal action against their conditions of transfer from prison to the courthouse, a procedure which upset the timetable of the trial, the proceedings of which began in early December.
“Humiliating” treatment
These defendants, including Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini, complained of being subjected to "
humiliating
" treatment because of the obligation to kneel naked every day in front of three police officers responsible for verifying that they are not hiding any dangerous object in their private parts.
The Chamber of Referees of the Brussels Court of First Instance considered on Thursday that the "
systematic practice of body searches with genuflections (...) appears to constitute degrading treatment prohibited
" by the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits “
degrading treatment at all times and in all circumstances
”.
End this practice
The magistrate noted “
the general and systematic nature
” of the body searches and the fact that they “
are destined to be repeated daily on the days of the hearing for a trial scheduled for a long period
”.
He also deemed them insufficiently justified "
by a security imperative, beyond many other security measures already in existence
".
Consequently, the judge in chambers ordered the Belgian State, as a provisional measure, “
to put an end to this practice
” under penalty of a fine of 1,000 euros per violation, per plaintiff.
This decision is immediately enforceable, despite any appeal that the State may make.
Read alsoBeginning of the extraordinary trial of the Brussels attacks
On the other hand, the judge considered that the wearing of a “
blackout mask
” imposed on the defendants during their transfer did not constitute “
degrading treatment
” and was “
justified by the imperatives of security
”.
The complaint of the six defendants, which targeted the Belgian Minister of Justice, was part of the trial of the suicide attacks of March 22, 2016, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group and which left 32 dead and several hundred injured. at the airport and in the Brussels metro.
