Belgium’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court, has ordered the release of Nizar Trabelsi from detention.
The former Tunisian footballer was held at the closed detention centre for undocumented migrants in Merksplas, Antwerp Province, following his return from the United States on 8 August.
He was freed on Wednesday evening, after the Court of Cassation rejected appeals filed by the government against earlier rulings to release him.
The end of a 25-year ordeal
With these appeals dismissed, there was no longer any legal basis for the Belgian state to keep Trabelsi in custody.
“This release marks the end of a 25-year ordeal and the beginning of a long journey towards recovery,” his lawyer, Julien Hardy, stated.
He added that Trabelsi urgently needed medical treatment and bore no resentment towards Belgian society.
“He only hopes to be able to heal and to return to Tunisia one day, but only if guaranteed he won’t face torture there,” Hardy added.
Returning Trabelsi to Tunisia would expose him to possible torture - judges
Trabelsi was extradited from Belgium to the United States in 2013, a process that courts in both countries subsequently declared illegal.
Both Belgian and US judges also ruled that his return to Tunisia would expose him to the risk of torture.
According to Hardy, Belgium’s Justice Minister Annelein Van Bossuyt has been unable to obtain assurances from Tunisian authorities that Trabelsi would be safe from such treatment.
“Freedom from torture is not a privilege—it’s a fundamental right in our democratic societies,” Hardy stressed.
