Defendants in various drug cases, who were scheduled to appear before the Brussels Council Chamber on Thursday, were released due to a lack of sufficient means to bring them to court, one of the suspect's lawyers told VRT. Transfers between prisons and courts, and even between cells and courtrooms, have been an issue for months.
One of the suspects is an alleged member of a massive criminal organisation that was dismantled in October 2021 during the Sky ECC operation. In total, the police bust arrested 888 suspects and seized €4.5 billion in drugs. The suspect is suspected to have been part of a gang which was active in cocaine trafficking between South America and Europe.
The second suspect is part of a separate drug trafficking case, also initiated thanks to decrypted messages from the Sky ECC network.
Unable to appear before the courts, the council chamber ordered their unconditional release. These transfer problems, which are said to undermine the rights of the defence, are becoming commonplace in the Belgian legal system, the chamber lamented.
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On Thursday, a major appeals court suffered a third postponement in a week due to the inability to transport inmates to trial.
