The Tongeren Council Chamber has referred eight suspects to the Limburg Assize Court, where they will stand trial for their role in the kidnapping of a 13-year-old boy from Genk.
The Chamber handed down its decision on Friday.
The boy had been held for six weeks in three locations in Spring 2020, and released after a ransom was paid.
The defendants include Khalid Bouloudo, described as a "Muslim extremist " and a resident of Maaseik, Limburg Province, his 50-year-old brother, and three brothers from the Antwerp area who will also have to answer for another kidnapping: they held a man against his will and mistreated him for five days in February 2020. That abduction was independent of the acts committed against the minor.
On the night of 21-22 April 2020, several men burst into the home of the teenager's family in Genk. The assailants, disguised as Dutch police officers, kidnapped the boy and demanded a ransom of €5 million. The family paid €300,000 in two instalments, plus another €30,000.
Investigators from the Limburg Federal Judicial Police made strenuous efforts to find and rescue the boy, mobilising up to 25 people at any one time and more than 100 during the course of the investigation.
On 1 June 2020, the Federal Judicial Police launched nine searches, four in Antwerp and five in Limburg. The teenager was constantly confined to the premises where he was being held, with each room locked. The family received two signs of life from the boy, who was eventually released after 42 days.
Bouloudo's other accomplices included Dutchman Omar L., who had already torn off an electronic bracelet in the past. Omar L. threw himself into the Scheldt when he was chased by the police.
The seventh defendant, a resident of Zutendaal, was in Bouloudo's car when he was arrested. He was in possession of banknotes from the ransom money.
Finally, the eighth defendant, a man from Houthalen-Helchteren, had temporarily sheltered the young boy.
