Mechelen N-VA city councilor Melikan Kucam (46) and nine other suspects have to answer to the criminal court for human smuggling, passive bribery and membership of a criminal organization. That has been decided by the council chamber in Antwerp.
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Kucam worked as a confidant for the cabinet of the then State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken (N-VA). He gave the cabinet lists of names of Eastern Christians from Syria who were eligible for a humanitarian visa.
In November 2018, the human trafficking, smuggling and social fraud department of the federal judicial police in Antwerp started an investigation after reports of fraud. “The organization is suspected of having helped 219 people on payment for a humanitarian visa, of which 96 people – contrary to the conditions of the visa – would not have stayed in Belgium,” says the Antwerp public prosecutor. Humanitarian visas were issued as part of the rescue of Christians from the war zone in Syria. With a humanitarian visa, these people could travel to Belgium in a safe and legal way to apply for asylum in our country. ‘
A Pano-reportage The affair caused a lot of controversy and Kucam was arrested in early 2019. He was in custody for months and then had to wear an ankle bracelet, but he has now also been released from it. His wife and son were also in custody for a while.
The public prosecutor’s office asked the courtroom to refer Kucam and the other suspects to court. The council chamber follows that question. The ten, eight men and two women between the ages of 22 and 60 have to answer for human trafficking, passive bribery and membership of a criminal organization. They risk imprisonment for up to 15 years and fines of up to 150,000 euros per victim.
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