The civil case against the convicted terrorists who carried out or otherwise were involved in the terrorist attacks of 22 March 2016 ended last week with a short hearing. The amount of damages awarded to the victims was unknown until today.
Some 1,000 victims have been awarded a total of €18 million in damages. Victims are not just individual people – public transit network MIVB and the Belgian state, for instance – were also part of the civil case.
Unlikely to see money
The civil case, processed separately from the criminal case, awarded damages to people and entities that suffered financial, psychological or physical injury as a result of the attacks at Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station. Because damages must be paid by the terrorists themselves, it is unlikely that victims will actually see any of the money they have been awarded.
The largest sums went to entities, with MIVB being awarded more than €1.5 million, and the state €2.6 million. Some victims – such as a man whose wife died in his arms and whose twin children were injured – were awarded hundreds of thousands, while other were awarded less than €50,000.
