ix men have been found guilty of murder over suicide bombings at a Brussels airport and subway station in 2016 that left 32 people dead.
Bombs exploded at Zaventem Airport on the morning of March 22, 2016 and then on the city’s central commuter line, with Islamic State claiming responsibility for the attacks.
In addition to the 32 people killed, nearly 300 others were wounded – the deadliest attack in Belgium since the end of the Second World War.
The six, of 10 facing charges, were found guilty of murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context for their part in the twin bombings.
They and two others were also convicted of participating in the activities of a terrorism organisation. Two men were acquitted.
Among those found guilty of murder was Salah Abdeslam, who is already serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 2015 Paris terror attacks which killed 130 people. He was arrested by police four days before the Brussels attacks.
Others found guilty included Mohamed Abrini, who went to Brussels Airport with two suicide bombers but fled without detonating his suitcase of explosives and Osama Krayem, a Swedish national accused of planning to be a second bomber on Brussels’ metro.
Oussama Atar, seen as the group’s leader and presumed to have been killed in Syria, was also convicted.
The seven-month trial involved more than 900 civil plaintiffs and took place in a specially constructed high-security court located on the outskirts of the Belgian capital. It is by far the largest trial in Belgium’s judicial history.
The 12 jurors had been deliberating since early July over some 300 questions the court asked them to consider before reaching a verdict.
Jamila Adda, president of the Life4Bruxelles victims’ association, gathered a group of survivors at the special courthouse to hear Tuesday’s verdict.
“We have been waiting for this for seven years, seven years that weighed heavily on the victims. … We are waiting with impatience, and with some anguish” for the verdict, he said.
Sentencing will be decided in a separate process, not before September.
