The investigation into a violent racist attack by Bruges hooligans in Molenbeek, which occurred during the final of the Belgian Cup last year, has concluded with prosecutors seeking to send three individuals to trial.
Three men were arrested shortly after the incident and charged following their appearance before an investigating judge. The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office has now completed its investigation and submitted requests for the trial of the three suspects before the Dutch-speaking criminal court in Brussels. The next phase involves a hearing before the council chamber.
Authorities intend to prosecute the individuals for “assault and battery causing incapacity for work, with the aggravating circumstance of hatred or discriminatory motives.”
One suspect faces charges linked to three victims, another related to one victim, and the third accused of hate-based violence against a vulnerable person—a shopkeeper in his seventies who was seriously assaulted. The prosecutor’s office also revealed that two of the suspects are charged with “damaging property in a group context.”
