On Friday, the examining magistrate and the investigators began their account of the investigation into the death of Yacine M'Rabet.
The investigation was "tedious and highly complex" due to the lack of cooperation from local residents, who feared "reprisals," according to witnesses heard before the Brussels Assize Court.
Ahmed El Battouti and Michaël Pindeville, accused of torturing Yacine M'Rabet to death on 8 March 2022 in the Marolles district of Brussels, will be tried by the court.
On that day, the police intervened after receiving a dispatch call at around 17:45 reporting an unconscious person with numerous signs of violence in front of a block of flats on rue des Visitandines.
The omerta "omnipresent both in the block and in the Marolles district in general," according to witnesses, was immediately put into effect: nobody seemed to be able to identify the victim. It took overhearing a conversation in a foreign language to discover that it was Yacine M'Rabet, who lived on the eighth floor of the building.
The first responders discovered a flat in disarray, with a strong smell of ammonia. There were traces of blood in several places and the bathtub was half-filled with a reddish liquid.
An investigation was opened for attempted murder, and an examining magistrate was appointed the following morning. The neighbourhood investigation was hampered by the lack of cooperation from the residents of the building, who were "shocked by the incident," according to a witness.
However, the witness warned the investigating magistrate that "generally speaking, people are afraid" and that "young people rule the building."
The technical and forensic police laboratory visited the building in rue des Visitandines four times between 8 and 15 March. Tests confirmed the presence of various narcotics in the flat, but none of the objects analysed (sheets, belts, cigarette butts, power sockets, etc.) could be identified by DNA.
On 14 March, the lab was called in following the discovery of ‘objects possibly linked to the events’. On the 10th floor, a bucket containing an iron and a horseshoe was found, while two gas cylinders were discovered in the technical room on the 8th floor. The National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology (INCC) will carry out the analyses, the results of which will not be known immediately.
