Following the tragic events that unfolded in Brussels, where two Swedish football fans were killed by a Daesh gunman, French anti-terror prosecutors have made significant headway in their investigation.
On Tuesday, they revealed that a Paris judge has formally charged two individuals suspected of having connections with the assailant.
The attack, which took place on Oct. 16, saw Abdesalem Lassoued, a 45-year-old Tunisian Daesh member, ruthlessly gun down Swedish football fans just before a Belgium-Sweden Euro 2024 qualifier tie.
The aftermath of the attack led to a fatal confrontation between Lassoued and the police.
The French authorities embarked on their own inquiry, treating it as a suspected "criminal terrorist conspiracy," following information they received from Belgian counterparts.
In a significant development on Monday, a Paris judge laid charges against the two suspects.
They face allegations of forming a terrorist criminal group and being complicit in the murder, which is intricately linked to a terrorist plot.
The accused individuals have been detained.
The investigation into the two suspects, who are residents of the Paris region, is now focusing on establishing their ties with Lassoued.
Of the two suspects, one has resided in France for nearly two decades and denies the charges, as confirmed by his lawyer, Souleymen Rakrouki.
According to Rakrouki, his client adamantly maintains his innocence, stating firmly: "He has nothing to do with the attack." The lawyer also stressed that the attacker was a longtime friend and that there were no prior signs of radicalization. The accused could never have fathomed the heinous act that transpired.
In the wider context of the investigation, these two individuals were among the quartet taken into custody last week.
Significantly, two others have been released with no charges.
Lassoued's tumultuous journey involved a daring escape from a Tunisian prison, where he was serving a lengthy sentence.
Notably, Belgian authorities received an extradition request from Tunisian officials in August 2022 but failed to act upon it, raising critical questions about the breakdowns in the judicial and administrative mechanisms when dealing with radicalized individuals.
Revelations in official documents only added to the complexity of the case.
Lassoued had submitted asylum applications in multiple European countries, including Norway, Sweden, Italy and Belgium.
His presence in Belgium remained illegal after his asylum request was rejected in 2020.
An expulsion order was issued in March 2021 but remained unexecuted, shedding light on a broader debate in Belgium about the monitoring of radicalized individuals, particularly by immigration services.
