BRUSSELS: A Belgian top court on Monday banned officials at the trial of the 2016 Brussels terror attacks from kneeling to strip-search defendants.
The complaint was filed after six suspects in the suicide bombings refused to attend a hearing in protest against rectal searches conducted by the police.
An appeals court in Brussels upheld a preliminary ruling in December, saying there was no legal basis for subjects to be “genflected” during searches as they were being transferred from prison to court.
The ruling, seen by AFP, ordered the Belgian state to “put an end to this practice”.
Nine defendants are currently facing justice in the bombings claimed by the Islamic State group that targeted Brussels airport and the city’s metro on March 22, 2016.
A 10th suspect is believed to have been killed in Syria.
Belgium’s biggest ever criminal trial is being held under tight security at a purpose-built venue in the disused former headquarters of the NATO alliance.
is the prime suspect Salah AbdeslamJoe is already infamous after being convicted in a separate trial in France for his role in the 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Survivors of the attacks and relatives of those killed began testifying last week.
The trial is expected to run till June.
The complaint was filed after six suspects in the suicide bombings refused to attend a hearing in protest against rectal searches conducted by the police.
An appeals court in Brussels upheld a preliminary ruling in December, saying there was no legal basis for subjects to be “genflected” during searches as they were being transferred from prison to court.
The ruling, seen by AFP, ordered the Belgian state to “put an end to this practice”.
Nine defendants are currently facing justice in the bombings claimed by the Islamic State group that targeted Brussels airport and the city’s metro on March 22, 2016.
A 10th suspect is believed to have been killed in Syria.
Belgium’s biggest ever criminal trial is being held under tight security at a purpose-built venue in the disused former headquarters of the NATO alliance.
is the prime suspect Salah AbdeslamJoe is already infamous after being convicted in a separate trial in France for his role in the 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Survivors of the attacks and relatives of those killed began testifying last week.
The trial is expected to run till June.
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