They prosecute 10 defendants for the 2016 attacks in Brussels claimed by the Islamic State

Six of the defendants, including Abdeslam, are currently being tried in France for the attacks perpetrated in Paris on November 13, 2015 and that left a balance of 130 people dead.

On the morning of March 22, 2016, two suicide jihadists detonated the explosives they were carrying in the main corridor of the Brussels-Zaventem international airport, and simultaneously a third did the same at a subway station in the Belgian capital.

Investigations were quickly able to determine that those responsible for the attacks were related to the attacks perpetrated months earlier in Paris.

The attacks in Paris and Brussels were claimed by the radical group Islamic State.

In addition to Abdeslam, the process in Brussels includes Belgian-Moroccan Mohamed Abrini, who according to video images accompanied the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the airport, and Tunisian Sofien Ayari, who facilitated Abdeslam’s escape from the Belgian capital.

The Swede of Syrian origin Osama Krayem, and the Belgian-Moroccan Usama Atar and Ali El Haddad Asufi will also be prosecuted. These six defendants are also on trial for the attacks in Paris.

The trial for the attacks in Brussels will begin in September next year, at a date yet to be specified, the prosecution reported in a statement.

The hearings will be held in offices of the prosecution that occupy ultra-secure facilities and that belonged to NATO.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office announced that the lawsuits represent 964 people, including relatives of victims, injured and survivors, who are seeking redress for what happened.

In the case of Abdeslam, this is the second trial against him in Belgium, since in 2018 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a shootout with Brussels police officers in 2016.