Prosecutor Denis Goeman requested, Friday afternoon, before the Brussels Criminal Court, a sentence of one year in prison against a police officer accused of having struck or caused injury to a migrant of nationality Sudanese, with aggravating premeditation. The facts took place Tuesday evening near a hotel that welcomed migrants during the confinement period, place Anneessens, in the center of Brussels. The police, accused of raping an 18-year-old Sudanese migrant on Tuesday evening during an operation to control the ban on assembly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, said he regretted his gesture. The man, who has worked in law enforcement for 10 years, said he was aware of having made a mistake, saying that he had “a stroke of blood”.
The prosecutor argued that these acts, committed against a person who at no time insulted the police or was violent, were “to say the least“, even if “policing is difficult and requires a lot of composure“. He requested a sentence of one year in prison against the police, who could benefit from a stay.
“He tried to put pressure on him”
Tuesday evening around 10:15 p.m., several police officers carried out a muscular control around the Anneessens square in Brussels, where there were several migrants and homeless people who have been accommodated in a hotel close to there since the confinement. The police then took the migrants in a van to release them near the Willebroeck wharf. A police officer is suspected of having sprayed gas into the eyes of a young Sudanese migrant after having pressed him against a wall and having destroyed his mobile phone with his baton.
Friday, the court also heard the argument of Me Alexis Deswaef, who represents Ali, the 18-year-old young man victim of the facts. The lawyer pleaded a reclassification of assault and battery in inhuman treatment, considering that the police wanted to intimidate his client. “He tried to put pressure on him to leave, this annoying transmigrant, and go and drive him very close to the canal. It’s a bit like in the Middle Ages, when strangers were taken out in the evening city gates“, he pleaded.
“There was contempt for this migrant “
Mr. Deswaef also considered that there was a double aggravating circumstance because the acts were committed by a police officer towards a person vulnerable because of his social situation. “There was contempt for this migrant, otherwise we don’t act like that“On the defense side, Mr. Sven Mary argued for a probationary stay of sentencing, suggesting that the court order the police officer who assaulted them to take training in In the alternative, he asked that his client be given a stay in the event of a prison sentence.“My client bitterly regrets. But he is not a robot, he is not a machine … He had a ‘blood stroke’ as he said, but he added: ‘I understood immediately that I had made a bullshit ‘“, pleaded Me Mary.
The accused is currently the subject of a disciplinary sanction. He is suspended from his duties until August 22. The judgment will be pronounced on June 20. Nevertheless, the president of the tribunal specified that his decision could be postponed to July 17, given the busy role of his hearings.
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