The Brussels Court of Appeal has ruled. While the question of the daily kneeling body searches of the defendants detained in the trial of the 2016 jihadist attacks has disturbed the participation of the defendants in the hearings since December, they were deemed illegal on Monday, according to a copy of the judgment sent to the AFP. Frenchman Salah Abdeslam, who is among the six plaintiffs, refused to appear until the practice ceased. The Belgian State, which justified it for security reasons, had appealed a first unfavorable decision rendered at the end of December.
But in its judgment delivered this Monday morning, the Court of Appeal “notes (…) the absence of legal basis for the genuflections imposed on the respondents [les requérants] during the searches carried out by the officers of the judicial police during the transfers” from the prison to the courthouse. Therefore it “orders the Belgian State to put an end to this practice”, adds the text.
No justification and a systematic nature
The attacks in Brussels, claimed by the Islamic State organization (IS), left 32 dead and more than 340 injured on March 22, 2016. In this trial opened in early December, nine men are on trial for participation in these attacks, in varying degrees. A tenth, presumed dead in Syria, is tried in his absence. The trial should last until the summer on the ultra-secure site of Justitia, former headquarters of NATO.
Seven of the nine defendants appear detained, and the other two are free to move. Of those detained defendants, six – including Salah Abdeslam and his childhood friend Mohamed Abrini – have complained of humiliating and degrading treatment, with the searches requiring them to kneel down daily to check that they are not hiding dangerous object in their private parts. On December 29, in a decision rendered in summary proceedings, the Brussels Court of First Instance ruled in their favor by deploring “the general and systematic nature” of the searches, without individual justification.
This court noted that the “systematic practice of body searches with kneeling (…) appears to constitute degrading treatment” as prohibited by the European Convention on Human Rights. On Monday the Court of Appeal specifies that “a fine of 1,000 euros” per violation and per plaintiff will be imposed on the State if the practice does not cease no later than the ninth day following notification of the judgment.