Six men found guilty of murder in Brussels bombing trial

Six men have been found guilty of terrorist murder for their part in the 2016 Brussels bombings which killed 32 people and injured more than 300 at the airport and a metro station. Two others have been found guilty taking part in terrorist activities, while two others have been acquitted of all charges.

Salah Abdeslam was one of those found guilty. Abdeslam is already serving a life sentence in France for his role in the 2015 Paris attacks. After fleeing France, he was arrested in Belgium four days before the Brussels attack. He has now been found guilty of murder and attempted murder.

Mohamed Abrini was also found guilty for his role in the Brussels attack, he had also already been found guilty of taking part in the Paris attack. Abrini was identified on CCTV fleeing Zaventem airport in Brussels when his explosives did not go off. Abrini admitted to his role in the attacks, confessing that he prepared the explosives for the bombings.

Oussama Atar, Osama Krayem, Ali El Haddad Asufi and Bilal El Makhoukhi were also found guilty of terrorist murder.

Atar is believed to have planned the Paris attack from Syria is believed to have died in Syria. He was tried in absentia.

Krayem was seen with the bomber who attacked the metro station. Krayem also had a backpack full of explosives, but did not detonate them.

A Tunisian man and a Rwandan man, were cleared of murder but were convicted of taking part in terrorist activities, as were the other six on trial. T

Brothers Smail and Ibrahim Farisi, were cleared of all charges.

On 22 March 2016, two bombs went off at Zaventem airport just before 8am. 16 people were killed. Around an hour later, another bomb went off at Maelbeek metro station in Brussels' European quarter, where another 16 people were killed.

The court also ruled that three people who died in the years following the attack should be considered victims. These include a 23-year-old who suffered from psychological illness and died by euthanasia, and a man who died by suicide after suffering from post traumatic stress. Another man died of cancer in 2017 after being forced to halt treatment because of the wounds caused by the metro bombing.

The trial took place in a court built especially for the trial in the former Nato headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels.

The defendants are likely to be sentenced in September. Five are already in prison for their roles in the Paris attacks.

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