The court of appeal in Antwerp has postponed the judgement on a foiled assassination attempt on the then Mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever (N-VA), until 24 April.
Five members of a suspected terrorist group are on trial in the case. They were initially sentenced to prison terms of seven to 13 years. The Federal Public Prosecutor requested that these sentences be upheld.
The defendants were arrested on 27 March 2023 after a series of house searches in Antwerp, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and Eupen. They were placed under surveillance after the Federal Judicial Police received information from State Security on 17 February 2023 about the disturbing activities of Elias E.A. (21) from Antwerp. He was spreading Islamic State (IS) propaganda via his social media and had also recorded a training video in which he introduced himself as an IS fighter who was ready for violence.
Intercepted communications revealed that Elias E.A. wanted to attack De Wever and an unspecified police station. He said he was prepared to die a martyr's death. E.A. was looking for weapons. An undercover agent contacted him via the messaging service Telegram to monitor the delivery of weapons. When the delivery seemed imminent at the end of March and the plan for the attack on De Wever was in an advanced stage, the police decided to intervene.
The Federal Public Prosecutor demanded confirmation of the sentences that the defendants received last year. This includes 13 years in prison for Elias E.A. and Harun C. (37), under whose influence E.A. had quickly become radicalised. 12 years in prison were sought for Sebastian B. (21), who was going to carry out the attack with E.A., eight years in prison for Jihad E.H. (22) who provided the address of De Wever, and seven years in prison for Vanessa B. (24), the wife of E.A.
The defendants denied that it was an attempted act of terrorist murder. According to his lawyer, Elias E.A. could have easily changed his mind, because he did not even have any weapons.
He pleaded guilty to preparatory acts. The other defendants denied that they were aware of the plans or had made any punishable contribution to them.
