Prosecutors on Monday asked the Brussels Court of Appeal to sentence a man in his twenties to five years in prison, a fine and the loss of certain civil rights for planning attacks, including one targeting a mosque and another involving an automatic assault rifle.
The Brussels Criminal court had sentenced the young man, from Opwijk, to three years in prison, but he appealed.
The defendant did not appear in court on Monday for the fresh hearing, nor did his father, his only close relative.
The Prosecutor General said it was therefore impossible to assess the extent to which the young man felt remorse or guilt.
The defendant, who was 21 at the time of his conviction, first came to the attention of the intelligence services and then the courts because of his activity on far-right Telegram channels.
According to the case file, he expressed strong admiration for three far-right mass murderers : Anders Breivik, Brenton Tarrant and Dylann Roof.
He had also written a manifesto calling for the creation of a white ethnic state and encouraged others on Telegram to carry out an attack.
Belgium’s State Security Service concluded that he matched the profile of a “lone wolf” — isolated young men who spend their days collecting and spreading far-right propaganda.
According to the Prosecutor General, he still poses a danger to society.
The defence did not dispute the facts, but argued that law enforcement provoked the events that led to his arrest. It also criticised society for, in its words, failing to intervene in time.
The court is expected to deliver its ruling on 20 October.
