The Brussels Court of First Instance has again ordered the Belgian state to take action to end the torture of Nizar Trabelsi, on pain of a penalty of up to 200,000 euros. His lawyers Christophe Marchand and Dounia Alamat said this on Monday.
Monday, March 4, 2024 at 6:02 PM
The former Tunisian footballer was convicted in our country in 2004 for attempting to attack the Kleine-Brogel military base. He was extradited to the US in 2013. There he was acquitted of terrorist plans in July last year, but he is still in custody.
Before this extradition to the United States, the Belgian state was convicted several times by the Belgian courts and the European Court of Human Rights, according to the principle that no one can be tried twice for the same facts.
At the end of last year, the Court of Cassation rejected the Belgian state’s appeal in this case. The judgment that orders the Belgian state to request Trabelsi’s return from the United States is therefore “final”, the lawyers said at the time. “But the Minister of Justice refused,” is now what Trabelsi’s defense says. “Trabelsi had to summon the Belgian state again.”
In a summary judgment ruling dating back to February 14, “the court granted the requests,” the lawyers say. Belgium must “on the one hand, hand Trabelsi the documents that allow his return, and on the other hand, send a new official request for repatriation to the American authorities.”
If this is not done, the state could be fined up to 200,000 euros. “The inertia of the Belgian state unnecessarily prolongs the torture of this man,” his lawyers said.
