First ever murder trial of Syria fighter in Belgium

Six suspects will go on trial in Antwerp next week for a murder that took place in Syria – the first time such a crime has been tried in Belgium. One of the suspects, 23-year-old Hakim Elouassaki of Vilvoorde, is in custody; the other five are thought to still be in Syria.

All six are alleged to have taken part in the execution of a prisoner in Syria between September 2012 and May 2013. The murder was filmed, and Dutch can be heard in the background. Elouassaki was arrested on the basis of tapped telephone calls and a confession, which he later recanted.

All six suspects were named in the Sharia4Belgium trial that took place in Antwerp last year. The five absent suspects missed that trial, too. Elouassaki had his case removed from the roll then, so that charges against him could be bundled with the current charges.

The trial is the first murder case to go before the correctional tribunal instead of the assizes court, where a jury sits.

Photo courtesy Antwerpen Toerisme en Congres