the accused police officers get off with very light sentences –

This Thursday, June 26, the Brussels Criminal Court delivered its verdict in the case of Ibrahima, who died in the Gare du Nord police station in early 2021. Two police officers were found guilty of failing to help Ibrahima during and after his heart attack, which occurred in the cells of the police station. They were given 7 months of suspended prison sentence. A third police officer was found guilty of assault and battery on Ibrahima; he was sentenced to 1 month of suspended prison sentence. These light sentences therefore do not recognize a link between the blows inflicted on Ibrahima in the cell and his death. It should be recalled that shortly before his death, the young man is said to have shown signs of discomfort in the search room before losing consciousness. Video images show that he remained lying on the ground for five to seven minutes, handcuffed, without receiving any assistance. Police sources, relayed by several media outlets, then suggested that Ibrahima was under the influence of drugs at the time of his arrest. However, the subsequent autopsy refuted these allegations, detecting no traces of illicit substances. According to Mr. Deswaef, the family’s lawyer, the autopsy revealed a heart anomaly, but the medical report emphasizes that this anomaly alone does not explain the cause of death. Thus, blows and injuries could have played a role in the death of the young man, known for his athletic skills.
Furthermore, at the time, the announcement of Ibrahima’s death only reached her parents at 2:30 a.m., six hours after the tragedy. First, they were informed that their son had been arrested for violating the curfew in force at the time in Brussels (from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.). It was only later that they learned the exact time of death, which occurred at 8:22 p.m., which highlights the lie of the police regarding the reasons for Ibrahima’s arrest: whether he died in a police station before 10 p.m., he could not be arrested for non-compliance with the curfew. Ibrahima’s relatives had to wait more than three years for a verdict. They had to face police lies and the opacity of the judicial system. As in the recent case of Sabrina and Ouassim, the police officers were sentenced to light sentences, which they will not spend behind bars since they are on suspended sentence. This judgment therefore avoids for once the dismissal of charges, which the police often receive in trials in which they are involved, as was the case this year for the trial concerning the deaths of Adil and Mehdi. However, these sentences, which are too meager, reveal the racist and classist functioning of the judicial system and the police. Ibrahima Barrie case: the police officers go on trial this Friday, May 10 Death-dibrahima-two-police officers-recognized-guilty-of-non-assistance (Le Soir)