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14 people will be brought to justice in Belgium, accused of helping gunmen and suicide bombers who attacked targets across Paris in November 2015. Investigators believe the attacks were mainly planned in Belgium, where several of the alleged assailants.
In a closed-door hearing, federal prosecutors decided to try 14 out of 20 people suspected of transporting, harboring or providing material support to the attackers at the Bataclan theater and other targets in Paris who killed 130 people. .
The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State armed group and twelve defendants will be accused of “participating in the activities of a terrorist group”.
Some will be accused of helping Salah Abdeslam, the only alleged survivor, to go into hiding until he was found in Brussels and arrested in March 2016. Abdeslam was tried in Brussels in 2018.
A suspect, Abid Aberkane, is accused of hiding Abdeslam at his mother’s house in the last days before his arrest. The case against his mother was closed, along with four other people.
Two suspects, Sammy Djedou and Youssef Bazarouj, who are believed to have died fighting for the Islamic State in Syria, will be tried in absentia.
Prosecutors accuse the other defendants of having links not only to Abdeslam, but also to those involved in the 2016 Brussels bombings, which killed 32 people.
The decision to send the suspects to justice is subject to appeal. The trial could begin in the second half of 2021 in Brussels, which would coincide with the prosecution in Paris of 20 other suspects more directly linked to the attacks. This trial is scheduled to begin on September 8 and last for six months.
(with wires)
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