After three shootings took place in less than 24 hours in the Brussels-Capital Region, the region's new Public Prosecutor Julien Moinil strongly denounced the lack of action to combat drug-related violence.
The first shooting took place at the Clémenceau metro station in Anderlecht on Wednesday morning. One on the same day, another one took place in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. On Thursday morning, a new shooting occurred near Clémenceau.
Speaking on RTBF on Thursday morning, Moinil called the incident in Anderlecht on Wednesday – which saw two people with automatic rifles in the middle of a metro station right before the morning rush – shocking. "You go to work, you take the underground, you see weapons of war... I can imagine how shocking that can be."
Moinil added that a bullet hole was found in a child's bedroom in the next street. "I saw the photo and the bullet hole is in the wall of the child's bedroom. So there's a family here, waking up in the morning to a bullet hole in their child's bedroom. That is shocking."
He made the link to a tragic incident in Antwerp, where a little girl (11) died in a drug-related shooting in January 2023. "How many deaths will it take for us to have a reaction commensurate with the gravity of the situation?"
Police pictured near the Clemenceau metro station, which was closed off after a shooting on Thursday morning. Credit: Belga/Hatim Kaghat
Police reinforcements needed
Moinil, who specialises in organised crime and drug trafficking cases and is now a Public Prosecutor in Brussels, wants to send a clear signal and is calling for more resources and investigators to map the area.
"I have summoned the six heads of the police zones and the director of the judicial police, and I have asked them to carry out an analysis to find out who these people and groups are," he said.
"I am not the Minister for Education or Health. I am a prosecutor. I react to offences and I have to consider sanctions. I do not do prevention, that is not my legal role," he said.
Still, he added that he urgently needs more police because all these shootings mean a huge workload. "The police need to be reinforced to launch investigations into these criminal groups, to find out exactly where their assets are, and to neutralise them."
Moinil only took up his post a month ago and is appointing specialised magistrates for each specific area of Brussels. They will be responsible for identifying and dismantling these groups. "I think this is the absolute priority, and the public deserves it."
Julien Moinil pictured during his oath taking ceremony as new Brussels' Public Prosecutor, Thursday 09 January 2025 in Brussels. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
Additionally, he wants to put an end to what he called "a certain laxity" in the judicial chain in Brussels: every criminal act must receive an appropriate response. "My principle – and it was in my management plan that I submitted to the High Council of Justice – is that every act should receive a response."
Moinil recognised that not everyone can be put in prison, but he stressed that every incident must be dealt with. "Otherwise you allow impunity to set in, and impunity is the enemy of the rule of law. There is no scenario in which it is okay that there is no reaction when a victim of a crime lodges a complaint. In Belgium, we pay enough tax – maybe even too much – to have a high-quality judicial service. So we have to raise the bar."
He also denounced the hypocrisy when it comes to the execution of sentences in Belgium. "I remember very well a message from the encrypted messaging service used by drug traffickers. Some of them were saying: 'Belgium is comfortable. One-third [of your prison sentence] and you are out'."
"Don't imagine for a second that these criminals are not making these calculations. It is the first thing they do when they go into prison," Moinil said. "And so, in reality, sentences are not carried out even though judges have handed them down, well, that is a blight on the judicial system."
Front-row seats to government plans
However, due to prison overcrowding, even the longest sentences are no longer enforced by a system of extended leave, he pointed out.
"But I am not a politician, I am a lawyer. We absolutely need political support because the judiciary is there. The criminal justice system is weak and needs to be strengthened," Moinil said, calling on the new Federal Government to keep its promises.
"We know that MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez has said that 'vermin is eating away at Brussels' and has announced that the government is going to take measures to clean up the streets. I will be in the front row to check what they are doing," he said. "And you can count on me to say if they do not do it."
Reassuring the public with words is "all well and good," he said, but politicians have to move from rhetoric to action. "Promises have been made to step up security. I will be very careful to ensure that the authorities and partners receive the resources. And that starts with justice."
