The case of the torture of a 17-year-old errand boy whose ear was allegedly cut off by a drug gang in East Flanders was introduced at the Ghent Correctional Court on Monday. It is set to be heard on 19 May.
A total of 20 suspects are being charged, although not all were present at the preliminary hearing on Monday.
The offences in Belgium happened in April 2022. The then 17-year-old errand boy was tortured by a drug gang in the garage of a farmhouse in Maldegem (East Flanders).
It occurred after the boy was thought to have tipped off a rival gang about a deal involving 300 kilograms of cocaine. The perpetrators allegedly cut off the teenager's ear and severed the tendons of his hand.
Four people were already arrested in November 2022, after examining CCTV footage near the hospital where the victim was dropped off. Kristof D. was named the principal suspect and he was listed internationally.
He was previously thought to be in Dubai but was apprehended in the Philippines on 17 October 2023. The Belgian arrest warrant listed torture of minors, participation in a criminal organisation and drug offences, among others. He was brought to Belgium and remained in pre-trial detention pending trial.
Twenty suspects were eventually referred to the Ghent Correctional Court in the case. Jonas W., who was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Turnhout correctional court in June last year for kidnapping and torturing a Dutch drug criminal, was also referred.
Several defendants are Dutch, and one of them is currently still detained in his home country. The man will be handed over to our country early next month, the prosecution stated on Monday at the preliminary hearing.
The case will be heard on 19 May and the court asked the defendants to be present in person then.
