Encro trial in Brussels: 119 convictions, 700 years' imprisonment and €60 million confiscated
Brussels correctional court issued 119 convictions in the mega-trial Encro, targeting a vast drug-trafficking network between Belgium and Latin America.
Mega-trial Encro: Brussels court delivers 119 convictions for drug-trafficking network
Brussels correctional court closed the Encro trial on Tuesday by issuing 119 convictions against members of a vast network trafficking in narcotics operating between South America and Europe. As reported by L'Avenir, sentences range from 14 months to 17 years' imprisonment. Of the 128 defendants, nine were acquitted, and the four companies involved were all found guilty.
From interception of encrypted messaging to network dismantling
The affair has its origins in the decryption, by police, of the Encrochat secure communications networks in 2020, then Sky ECC in 2021. These messaging services, favoured by criminal circles for their discretion, enabled investigators to reconstruct the workings of a transnational trafficking operation. Thanks to data extracted from Sky ECC, Brussels federal judicial police dismantled a structured network at the end of 2021, through which flows of cocaine and cannabis passed notably via the port of Antwerp.
In total, 124 individuals and four companies came under the scrutiny of investigators. The case was brought before the courts on 30 June 2023. Substantive examination began on 18 December 2023 at Justitia — the former NATO headquarters in Haren — and proceedings continued for nearly six months, until 7 May 2024.
Ruling postponed due to procedural irregularity
The close of deliberations, originally scheduled for 2 September, was postponed following two requests to reopen proceedings. The federal prosecution sought the discontinuation of public proceedings against John B., who died during deliberation. Furthermore, the lawyer for Karim M. argued that his client had already been convicted in mid-June by Brussels court of appeal for offences also tried as part of the Encro trial — a double conviction prohibited by law. The judges, deeming it necessary to examine this position more carefully, postponed the delivery of judgment to 29 October.
The heaviest sentences
Among the three main defendants, it was Algerian Abdelwahab G. who received the most severe sentence: 17 years' imprisonment. Bilal I., a 35-year-old from Brussels, was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. Albanian Eridan M.G., the repentant mastermind of the network who confessed, was sentenced to 14 years' custody.
The lightest sentence was imposed on Zohir N., who had lent his identity to register vehicles for use in trafficking: 14 months' imprisonment.
In total, twelve categories of offences were established, ranging from participation in a criminal organisation and drug trafficking to unlawful confinement, attempted extortion, receiving stolen goods, money laundering and weapons trafficking.
Defendants of varied profiles in the sights of justice
The case highlighted individuals of very diverse profiles. A lawyer was prosecuted for threatening Eridan M.G. in prison. Two sisters, owners of some forty properties, are suspected of having made apartments available to traffickers. An inspector from Brussels-South police zone was convicted of having transmitted information extracted from police databases — violation of professional secrecy charged as a distinct count of indictment.
A 50-year-old from Lasne was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for drug transport; his partner received four years. The latter's son, who had accompanied his stepfather in a Maserati, was acquitted. A Colombian national who had worked in cocaine laboratories received five years suspended beyond his pre-trial detention; upon hearing his sentence, he placed his hand on his heart.
The network encompassed numerous nationalities: Belgian, Albanian, Kosovar, Colombian, Moroccan, Algerian and Ukrainian, among others.
700 years' imprisonment combined, €60 million confiscated
In total, Brussels correctional court issued approximately 700 combined years' imprisonment. Confiscations total around €60 million, not counting the bail remaining in the custody of the courts.
Press magistrate Denis Goeman commented on the severity of the sentences: "By the severity of the sentences, the court appears to be noting that this type of organisation is such as to destabilise the rule of law." The court president was keen to stress that it was not a matter of trying a mass, "but individuals".
A lengthy trial with substantial judicial resources
The sheer scale of the case — more than 220,000 pages — provoked tensions throughout the trial. Several defence lawyers condemned the impossibility of reading the entire case file, and thus of closely analysing the exchanges and actions of each of the defendants. Some criminal law specialists invoked before the court the violation of the right to a fair trial.
The press office of Brussels French-speaking court of first instance recalled that "many actors in the judicial sphere were monopolised for very long months in the context of this case" — magistrates, registrars, administrative staff, security and logistics services, as well as interpreters. The latter indeed crossed their arms for an hour at the start of proceedings to protest against payment delays announced that very morning by the Federal Public Service Justice.
Source: L'Avenir