Cases at the Court of Assizes, where the most serious crimes are tried, are piling up at an unsustainable pace.
This was highlighted by Brussels Prosecutor-General Frédéric Van Leeuw during his speech marking the start of the new judicial year.
While the number of pending cases in the Court of Assizes remains steady, recent violent incidents, including numerous shootings in Brussels over the past months, have added to the concerns.
Van Leeuw warned that these developments pose serious challenges for the future functioning of the court.
"The cases to be tried in 2025 and 2026 will primarily concern crimes committed in 2022-2023, or even earlier," said the prosecutor-general. "The continuous rise in the number of cases qualifying for assizes suggests that the coming years will be especially difficult."
Between 1 January 2024 and 31 August 2024, 17 new cases were added to the caseload for the Court of Assizes’ specialised branch. By the same period in 2025, this number had already risen to 21.
"With the Court of Assizes already unable to keep up in previous years, this increase can only lead to further delays," Van Leeuw concluded.
