A Tunisian man convicted of terrorism offences in Belgium but later acquitted in the US is seeking damages from the Belgian state totalling more than €2 million.
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Convicted terrorist seeks €2m in damages over detention
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Nizar Trabelsi was arrested in Brussels in 2001 on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack on the Kleine Brogel airbase in Limburg on behalf of Al-Qaeda. He served 10 years in prison in Belgium. The US then requested that he be extradited, as American military personnel were stationed at the airbase.
According to Trabelsi’s lawyers, Belgium should not have complied with this demand. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that it violated the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered Belgium to pay €60,000 in damages.
Trabelsi spent 10 years in pre-trial detention in the US, before a jury acquitted him of all charges in 2023. He was then held in immigration detention for two years.
Following a protracted legal battle, Trabelsi was transferred to Brussels Airport in August last year by the US immigration service. He was immediately moved to a detention centre for undocumented migrants in Merksplas.
A new series of legal proceedings culminated in his release last October. Since then, he has been living in Brussels with the status of an undocumented foreign national who cannot be deported. He has no access to health insurance and cannot enter into a tenancy or employment contract.
A bailiff served the Belgian state with a claim for €950,000 in damages at the end of last year. The state disputes this and maintains that it has fulfilled its obligations.
Trabelsi’s lawyers have now recalculated the claim, arriving at a total of €2,075,000. This comprises €15,000 for each day he was detained at Merksplas between 8 August and 22 October, as well as damages on the grounds that the Belgian state failed to fulfil obligations imposed by the Court of Appeal.
They also want the state to cover costs, totalling €15,697, and have initiated legal proceedings. The court has one month to deliver a judgement.
Justice minister Annelies Verlinden of CD&V previously replied to a parliamentary question from Vlaams Belang MP Francesca Van Belleghem that the Belgian state has already paid a total of €552,096 in penalties and damages to Trabelsi or his lawyers.