Since the beginning of the fight against the coronavirus, Belgium's correctional prosecutors' offices have already opened over 144,000 coronavirus files.
Of those, 127,000 concerned adults, 16,000 concerned minors and about 1,000 were under the jurisdiction of the labour auditor's office, Liège public prosecutor Christian De Valkeneer said on Tuesday.
"The treatment of these files was considered a priority," he added.
Of the 127,000 cases involving adults, two-thirds (about 80,000 files) have been closed. For 40,000 of these cases, a settlement has been paid and the public proceedings have been terminated.
A little over 20,000 were closed mainly because the offence was not sufficiently established.
Finally, approximately 8,000 cases were handled by the police courts and a number of files were sent to the municipalities as part of the Municipal Administrative Sanctions (SAC).
This represents just over 20% more cases for the criminal prosecution offices, which receive an average of 600,000 cases each year, according to De Valkeneer.
The Brussels Times
