The Belgian judge in charge of the alleged corruption case in the European Parliament involving Qatar and Morocco is forced to withdraw temporarily due to a request for recusal from a suspect who accuses him of “bias”,
lawyers
say THURSDAY.
The request comes from the defense of the Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, charged and imprisoned on Saturday in the investigation led by the examining magistrate Michel Claise.
It was announced Thursday by his lawyer Maxim Töller during a hearing in Brussels before a court responsible for ruling on the extension of the pre-trial detention.
“Unfair impeachment”
Consequence: this hearing scheduled for the morning has been postponed for several hours.
Another judge had to replace Michel Claise to defend his investigative acts before the council chamber.
"
Michel Claise can no longer be present
" in this case, said lawyer Sven Mary, who defends Greek MEP Eva Kaili, also imprisoned.
The investigating judge now has 48 hours to defend himself and if he does not decide himself to withdraw, the Brussels Court of Appeal will then have to decide within eight days, explained Me Mary.
Four people are currently in pre-trial detention in Belgium, suspected of having interceded in favor of foreign powers in the decisions of the European Parliament.
Read also“Qatargate”: a second MEP in detention
A fifth suspect, Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino, was arrested and then placed under house arrest last weekend in Italy, pending the examination of the arrest warrant issued against him by the Belgian courts.
In this case Marc Tarabella and Eva Kaili firmly deny any wrongdoing.
Their lawyers were planning to ask for their release on Thursday.
Eva Kaili has been incarcerated for more than two months.
The other two suspects imprisoned in Belgium are Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant, companion of Ms. Kaili, and the former MEP (2004-2019) Pier Antonio Panzeri, also Italian.
This sexagenarian, who in 2019 became an NGO leader in Brussels, is the “
repentant
” of the file.
Read alsoCorruption in the European Parliament: Eva Kaili, the Greek MEP through whom the scandal arrives
In January, he negotiated with the prosecution a prison sentence limited to one year in exchange for precise statements on the organization of the corruption system and the people involved.
Marc Tarabella accuses Pier Antonio Panzeri of having unfairly implicated him.
The Belgian MEP's lawyer also believes that the judge is relying on "
suspicious fund movements
" for his benefit which have never been materially proven.
"
Clearly here, the presumption of innocence is violated (...) The judge clearly lets hear his opinion on the guilt of Marc Tarabella
", accuses Me Töller.
