The trial of the March 2016 jihadist attacks in Brussels was suspended on Monday for three days after the death of one of the defense lawyers last week at the age of 48.
When the hearing resumed after a week off, Sébastien Courtoy's collaborator, who died of a heart attack on February 20, asked for a delay to reorganize the defense of the accused Smaïl Farisi.
A "
legitimate
" request granted by President Laurence Massart, who suspended the proceedings until Thursday, Luc Hennart, spokesman for the court of appeal, told AFP.
Turbulent trial
Nine men, including Frenchman Salah Abdeslam, have been on trial since early December in Brussels for these suicide attacks claimed by the Islamic State group (32 dead on March 22, 2016 at the airport and in the metro in the Belgian capital).
A tenth, presumed dead in Syria, is tried in his absence.
Opposite them, about a thousand people have joined as civil parties to claim compensation for damage.
This trial, the largest ever organized before an assize court in Belgium, and whose agenda has already been shaken up several times, must last until the end of June-beginning of July, according to the court of appeal.
A lively controversy opposed the Belgian police in December to the seven accused detained (two men appear free, editor's note) about the strip searches carried out daily during their transfer to the courthouse.
It had the effect of postponing the interrogations of the accused, now scheduled for April.
Salah Abdeslam, who deserted the box, warned that he would not participate if the strip searches with genuflections continued as is still the case currently.
For the moment, the president's will is to respect the timetable providing for the first testimonies of victims from Monday March 6, underlined Luc Hennart.
After the death of Me Courtoy, his collaborator Michel Degrève asked Monday for a one-week suspension to rebuild a defense team, explained this lawyer to AFP.
But three days were given to him.
Maintaining a hearing day on Thursday should make it possible to close the testimony phase of the investigators and investigating judges,
and not to delay the first testimonies of civil parties.
The trial always breaks on Fridays.
