The Brussels court in chambers must rule on Thursday upon the application by the Federal Prosecution Service relating to the attack committed at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, on May 24th, 2014. The Federal Prosecution Service has requested that Mehdi Nemmouche and Nacer Bendrer should be tried in the criminal court for terrorist murders. Despite this, it has applied for the dismissal of the case against Mounir Attalah, the third suspect.
The attack on the Jewish Museum killed four people. The Israeli tourist couple Emanuel and Miriam Riva (aged 54 and 53 respectively), as well as Dominique Chabrier (aged 66), a museum volunteer, all died at the scene. Alexandre Strens (aged 25), the employee who worked in the museum’s Communications department, and was at the reception at the time of the incident, died subsequently on June 6th.
A week after the attack Nemmouche was arrested in Marseilles. He was specifically in possession of weapons which appeared to be identical to those used during the attack, ammunition and an Islamic State flag. His lawyers say that the man was involved in the attack but he was not the gunman.
During the police investigation, two other suspects were arrested, and then released subject to conditions. These were Nacer Bendrer and Mounir Atallah. In mid-January 2015, a wanted notice was issued for a fourth suspect. This man was filmed, in the company of Mehdi Nemmouche, a few days after the attack. He has not yet been identified.
Along with the Federal Prosecution Service, civil parties in the proceedings and Mehdi Nemmouche’s Defence team are arguing for a criminal trial. Having deferred the case at the end of November 2017, the court in chambers must now rule upon it today.
The Brussels Times
