A man already convicted for jihadism in Belgium will face trial once again in the United States on the same charges, after having been extradited there in 2013.
The incident has already cost the Belgian State €100,000 and will cost much more should the US fail to repatriate Nizar Trabelsi to Belgium. Trabelsi was arrested in 2001 for planning an attack on the Belgian-American base of Kleine-Brogel in Limburg.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Brussels Court of Appeal in 2004 and served that sentence in full. However, in October 2013 the Belgian State agreed under pressure to Trabelsi's extradition to the United States, despite an order from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) forbidding it.
The ECHR subsequently ruled the extradition violated the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered Belgium to pay Trabelsi €90,000 in damages.
Convicted once, punished twice
The Trabelsi case has continued to be subject to legal challenge: in March 2021 Belgium's Supreme Court confirmed that the extradition came with strict conditions – importantly that Trabelsi could not be prosecuted in the US for the offences that he had already been convicted of (and had served) in Belgium.
With the case still unresolved, the Brussels Court of Appeal intervened in May 2023 to enforce the Supreme Court's ruling and impose a €250,000 penalty on the State. On Tuesday, the court ruled again in a proceeding in which Trabelsi’s lawyers sought to hold the Belgian State liable for the treatment of their client since his extradition to the US.
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Trabelsi has been in a maximum security prison for years, kept in complete isolation in a cell lit 24 hours a day and with no daylight. He suffers from post-traumatic stress, symptoms of psychosis, hallucinations, panic attacks and engages in self-mutilation, according to United Nations reports.
Six-figure penalty for Belgian State
Trabelsi has been deprived of the necessary medical care. This week's ruling sided with his lawyers, finding that the Belgian Government had failed to carry out its duty. It was announced that Trabelsi would not be in prison in the US had it not been for Belgium's violating the ECHR extradition ban.
The Belgian State must also inform all Belgian witnesses called to the trial in the US next week that Trabelsi is on trial for acts for which he has already been convicted. By testifying, they would be implicated for violating the principle that no one can be convicted twice for the same acts.
Belgium should also insist that Trabelsi should receive the necessary medical care in the US. Above all, the Belgian State should send a diplomatic note to the US within 30 days asking for Trabelsi to be brought back to Belgium. If the government fails to do so it must pay a penalty of €10,000 per day, with a maximum of €100,000.
