Brussels Jewish Museum suspect charged with 'murder in a terrorist context'
Mehdi Nemmouche charged with shooting that left 4 dead, including 2 Israelis, one day after he was extradited from France.
By JOSEPH STRICHsuspect in Brussels Jewish Museum shooting(photo credit: BELGIUM POLICE)
Mehdi Nemmouche, the Frenchman suspected of killing four people at the Jewish Museum of Brussels on May 24, was charged by Belgium on Wednesday with “murder in a terrorist context.”A day earlier, he was extradited from France. His victims included Miriam and Emanuel Riva, a couple on vacation from Tel Aviv.Belgian Federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw alleged that a video found after Nemmouche’s arrest contains his voice claiming responsibility for the attack and murders. He had tried to film the attack, Van Leeuw said, but the camera failed.The 29-year-old man, from the city of Roubaix on the border with Belgium and from an Algerian family, spent several years in jail for armed robbery. He has been in police custody on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and weapons possession since his arrest on May 30 in the southern French city of Marseille, where he arrived on a bus that traveled from Amsterdam via Brussels to France. He was arrested at a routine customs inspection of passengers.Belgian Federal Police official Tun Hollevoet told journalists Tuesday that Nemmouche had arrived in Brussels and that “he is going to be interrogated.”According to the Belgian news website LaDerniereheure.be, Nemmouche was interrogated Wednesday, before being jailed in Mons, and within days there will be a reenactment of the shootings.Nemmouche reportedly appealed the extradition order because Belgium has not given assurances that it would not extradite him to a third country – namely, Israel – for trial.A French volunteer and a Belgian employee were also killed in the attack.
