A 44-year-old Tunisian suspected of complicity with the perpetrator of the attack committed on October 16 in Brussels was charged with “assassination in a terrorist context” and then imprisoned on Thursday, announced the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office.
This is the man who was arrested on Wednesday, suspected of being involved in the supply of the automatic rifle used by the attacker, Abdesalem Lassoued.
The latter, a radicalized 45-year-old Tunisian who was staying illegally in Belgium, was shot dead by Belgian police the day after the attack which cost the lives of two Swedes.
“A potential link with the weapon used”
His alleged accomplice, now imprisoned, presented as “Lamjed K., born 08/17/1979, of Tunisian nationality”, was arrested on Wednesday in Tervuren, south of Brussels. He was then presented to the investigating judge in charge of the investigation, who decided to charge him with “assassination and attempted assassination in a terrorist context” as well as “participation in the activities of a terrorist group”.
The federal prosecutor’s office also emphasizes that at this stage, it only confirms “a potential link with the weapon used during the terrorist attack of October 16, 2023”. The attack, perpetrated with “an AR-15 type war weapon” the prosecution said the next day, killed two Swedes, a sixty-year-old and a seventy-year-old, who had come to support their national football team playing that evening. against Belgium in Brussels.
A third Swedish fan, aged 70, was also seriously injured and was still hospitalized on Tuesday.
Two Tunisians also charged in Paris
In addition to the Belgian investigation, investigations were also launched by the anti-terrorism justice system in France on October 17, following information transmitted by the Belgian judicial authorities.
And on Monday evening, two Tunisians living in the Paris region were charged in Paris, then placed in pre-trial detention. The investigation must still clarify their links with the attacker.