'I thought they were going to kill me': British student 'tortured' by Brussels police, says lawyer

The Belgian federal prosecutor says it has opened an investigation into claims that a British student was "beaten and humiliated" by police in Saint-Gilles, in what the student's lawyer describes as an act of "torture".

21-year-old Elliot Meredith was leaving a house party on Avenue Brugmann at 2.45 on Sunday morning with five friends, who were all on work placements from a British university, when he passed police officers outside the home who had been called out to complaints of noise.

The students continued to a late-night takeaway where he claims police stormed in, arrested him and took him to Saint-Gilles police station.

In a written statement seen by The Bulletin, Meredith describes five police officers who he alleges "each took it in turn to punch me in my face".

He claimed one of the policemen made him repeat: "I am a little girl, I am a little girl", adding: "I was so scared ... I thought they were going to kill me. I was crying and pleading for them to stop.

"They then took my handcuffs off and tried to make me fight Officer 4 which I refused to do. I was shaking with fear, bleeding from my nose and face and I refused to be goaded into a fight."

Meredith said he was then taken to Molière Longchamp hospital in Forest: "At one point in the car I asked whether they were trying to kill me and Officer 3 replied yes. I did ask Officer 3 whether he was a human being and how could he do this to anyone to which he replied: 'no, I am a robot'."

According to his statement, at the hospital, the officers' behaviour changed and they "acted like nothing had happened".

"I was so afraid and scared to talk," Meredith said. "I was looking directly into the eyes of the doctors to try and express my fear so they could see how distraught I was."

In his statement, Meredith says he was then taken back to the police station, where he "had to sign three French papers".

"I just wanted to get out of there and away from Belgium," he said.

The student's lawyer Zouhaier Chihaoui told the BBC: "I will be making a complaint to the investigating magistrate. The facts are very serious and I believe they amount to torture."

His father Chris said his son immediately returned to the UK and does not plan to go back to Belgium: "My immediate reaction was anger and disgust at how this could happen in a major European city. We will fight for justice."

A spokeswoman for the Belgian prosecutor's office told La Dernière Heure newspaper that Meredith was detained on the morning of 17 January for "acts of rebellion".

She said police were called to the address because of noise, and that one officer was hit and signed off work for four days. An investigation into that alleged assault is under way, she added.

The spokeswoman added that the prosecutor has been "informed by the media" of claims that Meredith had been "beaten and humiliated" and the prosecutor had also opened an investigation into this.

The mayor of Saint-Gilles, Charles Picqué, told Brusselnieuws: "In these cases, we mainly look at the past of the police and whether they have previously committed the same kind of errors. I the case of the officer who was responsible for the team that is not the case.

"The young man had been drinking, but I do not want to underestimate the responsibility of the police. Maybe their reaction was out of proportion to the facts, but we must be cautious before we condemn and criticise the police."

The Brussels Midi police authority, which covers Saint-Gilles, Forest, Anderlecht, intends to file a complaint against Meredith, claiming he injured a police officer who was unable to work for four days.

The student's lawyer said his client denies any violence towards the police: "The story of the police is wrong with the chronology of the evening, we have sufficient evidence. On Monday we will lodge a complaint with the investigating judge."