A Belgian court has allowed a man convicted of the 2015 Paris attacks and the Thalys case to walk. The verdict is final and provokes sharp political criticism.
A Belgian court has granted temporary release from prison to one of the men convicted of the 2015 Paris terror attacks. Prosecutors disagreed with the decision but can no longer appeal the decision, although it has drawn sharp criticism. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
- A Belgian court has allowed Mohamed Bakkali to walk out of prison six times.
- Each permitted outing is to last thirty-six hours outside of Ittre Prison.
- Bakkali is serving a combined sentence of thirty years for terrorist acts.
Mohamed Bakkali is serving a 30-year sentence in Ittre prison south of Brussels. He was convicted for the logistical support of the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015, in which 130 people died, and for the attack on the Thalys train.
Allowed prison walks
The court allowed him to leave the prison six times for a walk, each time for 36 hours. According to the prosecutor’s office, this is the final verdict and it is up to the prison management to enforce it.
“What a shame,” Denis Ducarme, a member of parliament for the francophone right-liberal party Mouvement Réformateur, reacted to the court’s decision. According to him, this “trivializes terrorism” and ignores the memory of the victims of Islamic State attacks.
Strict permit conditions
Bakkali was granted permission to leave prison under very strict conditions and after a thorough review of his case. He had it before, albeit for a shorter period, said Belgian Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden.
In 2022, Bakkalli helped Islamic terrorists from Paris by providing shelters and cars and also provided them with false identity documents. A French court sentenced him to 30 years for this.
Penalties in France and Belgium
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Belgium for his role in the August 21, 2015, terrorist attack on a Thalys high-speed train that injured two passengers. Belgian authorities have extradited him to France to stand trial, on the condition that he serve his sentence in Belgium. He was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison with the possibility of parole after at least 20 years.
