In its largest-ever trial, Belgium will find out on Monday whether 10 men were involved in the 2016 jihadist suicide attacks in Brussels that left 32 people dead and over 300 injured.
More than six years after the bombings, presiding judge Laurence Massart will announce on Monday all parties to the case, including the defendants and attorneys for the roughly 1,000 victims of the attacks that the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.
She will then address the jury, which was chosen last week after a 14-hour process including 1,000 Belgians.
There are obvious connections between the French trial for the November 2015 Paris attacks and the Brussels bombings trial. Six of the Brussels defendants were given prison terms ranging from 10 years to life in France in June, but the Belgian trial will be unique since a jury, not judges, will decide the case.
On March 22, 2016, two bombs exploded at Brussels Airport, followed by a third bomb in the city’s subway system, killing 15 men and 17 women, many of whom were Belgians, Americans, Dutch, Swedes, and citizens of Britain, China, France, Germany, India, Peru, and Poland. Brussels is the location of the European Union’s institutions as well as the NATO military alliance, which is led by the United States.
All 10 individuals are accused of taking part in terrorist organization activities, and nine men face life sentences for several killings and attempted murders committed in a terrorist-related context.
They include Osama Krayem, a Swedish national accused of plotting to be a second bomber on the Brussels metro, and Mohamed Abrini, who authorities claim travelled to the airport with two suicide bombers but fled without setting off his bag of explosives.
Along with other people who the prosecution alleges harboured or assisted specific terrorists, Salah Abdeslam, the primary suspect in the Paris trial, is also charged. One of the ten people believed to have died in Syria will be tried in absentia.
The defendants have not admitted guilt or innocence, in accordance with the Belgian court process.
Before the hearings of over 370 experts and witnesses can commence on Tuesday, prosecutors are anticipated to begin reading from the 486-page indictment.
The trial, which will take place in the former NATO headquarters, is anticipated to last seven months and cost at least 35 million euros ($36.9 million).
