Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

The jury at the Brussels Court will begin its deliberations tomorrow evening, Thursday, on the verdict in the case of the terrorist attacks on March 22, 2016. According to the Belgian news agency, today, Wednesday, another substitute juror withdrew for satisfactory reasons. There are 12 regular jurors and 15 substitutes.
The jury will begin deliberations Thursday evening. During these deliberations, which are expected to last several weeks, the regular jurors and their alternates will have no contact with the outside world. They will have to consider nearly 300 charges. to make a decision
The prosecution demanded that eight of the 10 defendants be found guilty of terrorist murder and attempted murder.
After deliberating on the question of guilt, the jury will have to decide on the verdict in September.
Ten defendants have been on trial in Belgium since December 2022 in connection with the 2016 bombings at Brussels Airport and Malbec metro station. The attacks killed 36 people and injured about 340.
A verdict is expected later in July and the court will reconvene in September to discuss the verdict.
On June 6, the prosecution requested that eight of the ten defendants be found guilty of terrorist murder and attempted murder. The Public Prosecutor demanded that Ismail Farsi be convicted only of participating in a terrorist group and that his brother, Ibrahim Farsi, be acquitted.
According to the prosecution, Osama Attar, Mohamed Abrini, Osama Karim, Salah Abd al-Salam, Sufian al-Ayari, Ali al-Haddad Asoufi, Bilal al-Mukhoukhi and Irvi Bainqana Mohaira provided, in their own way and with their full knowledge of the facts, basic support. attacks.
 
36 counts of murder
The prosecution is also seeking to convict nine of the defendants on charges of participating in the activities of a terrorist group. For Osama Attar, who is believed to have died in Syria and is being tried in absentia, the prosecution is seeking to convict him of leading a terrorist group. Atar allegedly coordinated the attacks from Syria.
The prosecution also seeks to convict eight defendants on 36 counts of murder instead of 32 counts. They demanded that charges of attempted murder be changed to murder for four victims who died in the months and years following the attacks.,