(AFP) Six years after Belgium’s deadliest peacetime attack, a Brussels court will this week host a landmark trial that survivors hope will mark a step forward in their recovery and that of their nation.
The case against alleged members of an Islamic State (IS) group cell that launched both the March 2016 suicide bombings in Brussels and the November 2015 attacks in Paris will begin Monday.
The Belgian attacks, in which three suicide bombers hit Brussels airport and a crowded underground metro station, killed 32 people and shattered the lives of hundreds of survivors.
Nine alleged jihadists, including the cell’s 32-year-old French ring-leader Salah Abdeslam, will face a variety of charges. One, thought to have been killed in Syria, will be tried in his absence.
