Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The Court of First Instance in Brussels once again ordered the Belgian state to “take the necessary measures to end the torture of Nizar Trabelsi,” and imposed a penalty of up to 200,000 euros in the event of failure to implement it. According to what was reported by local media in Brussels about the Tunisian Tripoli defense team.
The former Tunisian football player was previously convicted by a Belgian court in 2004 for attempting to attack the Klein-Brugel military base. He was extradited to the United States in 2013. He was acquitted of terrorist planning charges in July last year, but remains in detention.
Prior to this extradition to the United States, the Belgian state had been convicted several times by Belgian courts and the European Court of Human Rights, in accordance with the principle that no one may be tried twice for the same facts.
At the end of last year, the Court of Cassation rejected the Belgian state’s appeal in this case. Lawyers said at the time that the ruling requiring the Belgian state to request Trabelsi’s return from the United States was therefore “final.” “But the Minister of Justice refused,” is what Trabelsi’s defense now says. “Trabelsi had to file a lawsuit against the Belgian state again.”
In a summary ruling dated February 14, “the court granted the requests,” the lawyers say. Belgium must "on the one hand hand over to Trabelsi the documents allowing his return, and on the other hand, send a new official request to the Belgian authorities to return him to Belgium."
If this is not done, the state could be fined up to 200,000 euros. His lawyers said: “The inertia of the Belgian state is needlessly prolonging the torture of this man.”