Bureaucratic fiasco in Belgium. In admission that no one remembers what happened to the brussels terrorist file, Abdeslam Lassoud, despite that there was an extradition request from Tunisia in 2022prosecutor Tim De Wolfe said on Sunday morning.

“None of our colleagues remember what happened to this file a year ago (as of September 12, 2022). There is no trace of further processing. We can only assume that as part of normal operation, these issues probably discussed orally by an administrative partner and the judge. It is possible that the judge requested that the file be resubmitted at a later date due to the excessive number of urgent cases at that time.” the prosecution pointed out. The file was then placed in the “current files” drawer.

At the same time, he pointed out that it is important to emphasize that “the factors cited as a high general workload, which prevented the periodic examination of current files, is an attempt to explain the course of events and not to apologize. It is true that the severe understaffing of the Brussels prosecutor’s office played a role, but that is no excuse. A year later the case should have been examined, which is dramatic under the current circumstances.”

Finally, it was underlined that “everything possible must be done to prevent it from happening again. Work processes will be analyzed to ensure proper operation. (…) We reached the number of 1,650 files in 2022. In this context, we noted with great gratitude the decision taken by the government yesterday afternoon to provide a specific budget to fill and expand the staff of the Brussels prosecution.”