The doors of the old Poelaert courthouse remained closed on Friday morning due to a power outage. The outage was resolved after more than an hour.
Sessions at both French- and Dutch-speaking correctional courts and courts of appeal have been temporarily suspended.
At 09:10, the security gates at the courthouse failed, and dozens of people were already standing in front of the closed doors.
The security gates were defective due to a problem with a high-voltage substation. Since the outage occurred after the courthouse had opened, several people who had passed through security before the failure were already inside.
The government agency of the Buildings Agency had appointed an electrician to resolve the problem. Consequently, the building was accessible to the public again at around 10:30.
Despite the power outage, several court cases are underway, including the hearing before the Court of Cassation, which is scheduled to rule on Friday regarding alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Belgian state during its colonial period.
The story has been updated.
