Eleven Syrian fighters were sentenced by the Criminal Court in Antwerp to pay 5,950 euros in compensation to Dimitri Bontinck. The court has not yet given its decision on the compensation requested by his son, Jejoen, formerly a member of Sharia4Belgium. An expert psychiatrist has yet to examine the consequences of his detention in Syria.
Dimitri Bontinck was requesting reimbursement of the costs paid to get his son, who had left for Syria, back to Belgium. This accounted for airline tickets, telephone bills, medical care and other aspects, as well as indemnity for non-pecuniary loss.
This all came to 15,000 euros in total.
The court considered that certain costs did not relate to the facts and granted Bontinck a little less than half of the sum he was requesting.
Jejoen, for his part has demanded 25,000 euros from the eleven jihadists who detained and tortured him in Syria. Moreover, his barrister sought the appointment of an expert. This was given that the young man was still suffering from psychological after-effects.
The court granted this latter request.
During the Sharia4Belgium trial, the Antwerp Criminal Court awarded provisional damages of 5,000 euros to Jejoen and a nominal one euro to his father Dimitri.
The 11 fighters in question have already defaulted on the sums due. The most well known amongst them is Hicham Chaib, the former right hand man of Fouad Belkacem who has recently been appointed as the head of the so-called “religious police”, in the city of Raqqa.
There is almost no chance of these men actually compensating their victims.
The Bontincks may have to make a claim with the Victims’ Compensation Fund.
The Brussels Times
