In the wake of the stabbing of two police officers in Schaerbeek last year, the families of the victims will receive accelerated financial aid in the same way as victims of terror attacks, Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne confirmed on Wednesday.
The incident saw one police officer killed and another injured in Brussels' red-light district. The Federal Government had been considering how best to compensate the victims' families and a decision was reached on Friday when Van Quickenborne proposed that relatives would have access to the victim support committee.
This will allow the families to be compensated more quickly for medical costs, pensions and any legal fees. Moreover, the financial aid is separate from any ongoing court proceedings and the families won't need to wait for a judicial decision before receiving the money.
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Van Quickenborne explained that the accelerated aid was the government's way of showing that "those who target the police are attacking our society as a whole," granting them the same status as terror attack victims.
However, it remains to be seen whether the incident will be considered an act of terrorism in the eyes of the law, as had been demanded by a legal expert earlier this month.
