Defence sums up in Brussels terror trial
Lawyers for a Frenchman accused of murdering four people in a terrorist attack at the Jewish museum in Brussels insisted on Thursday their client was not the killer, as his trial nears its end.
Defence lawyers said Mehdi Nemmouche, 33, was not to blame for the slaughter in May 2014, claiming he was caught up in a plot involving the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
Nemmouche, a serial criminal radicalised in prison who allegedly fought for jihadist groups in Syria, faces life in prison if found guilty of four counts of terrorist murder, with the jury expected to give its verdict on March 7.
His lawyer, Sebastien Courtoy, said the prosecution case was “manipulated and bogus”.
Courtoy expressed doubts about videos claiming responsibility for the attack that were found when Nemmouche was arrested, contesting expert evidence identifying the voice on tape as that of the defendant.
“The man making the claim is linguistically handicapped.
“In five minutes he makes eight mistakes,” Courtoy told the court in his closing statement, saying that his client spoke “faultless” French.
Courtoy said for the first time during the seven-week trial that others could have had access to the Brussels apartment Nemmouche rented before the attack, including to his computer and to his personal belongings.
The lawyer also attacked the testimony of two French journalists, who told the trial they had no doubt Nemmouche was the man who imprisoned and tortured them when they were captured in Syria in 2013.
According to the defence, the museum shooting was not the work of the Islamic State group but a “targeted execution” aimed at Mossad agents. The defence says the Israeli couple who were killed were in fact Mossad agents murdered by a man who had hunted them down.
Judges investigating the museum attack in January told the court there was no evidence to support any link to Mossad.
Prosecutors say the attack was the first carried out in Europe by a jihadist returning from fighting in Syria.
The Brussels killings came 18 months before the Paris attacks on November 13, 2015, which left 130 dead. Aside from denying his guilt, Nemmouche has said almost nothing in the dock since the first day.