Mehdi Nemmouche was under “the obligation to be present, therefore he is there,” his lawyer, Mr. Henry Laquay, said tersely Monday upon his arrival at the Brussels Court of Assizes. One of the lawyers of the main suspect of the attack at the Jewish Museum was evasive as to the real intention of his client to collaborate in the discussions.
Mr. Laquay expects the jury, the random selection of which began on Monday morning, “to be composed in the image of society, which it represents in this lawsuit.”
“Judges and lawyers will have to explain to the jury members that, for them, the real trial only begins now. They must ignore everything they have heard so far, particularly from the press, because they have only heard ‘a fraction’ of the case, and often in a distorted way, unfortunately, even if it is not the press’s fault,” Mehdi Nemmouche’s counsel said.
Mr. Laquay assured the Belga news agency on Sunday that his client would be present at the hearing Monday. A doubt about that presence had come out from what the other accused’s lawyer, Mr. Courtoy, had said following the preliminary hearing in December.
The Brussels Times
