According to the lawyers for the victim’s family, this exceptionally long delay constitutes the first fault of the Belgian state. The case was first postponed in May 2018. The chamber which was to handle the case was then temporarily closed due to a lack of magistrates.
A second fault, according to Me Alexander Van Eyck. “The president can redistribute files to other chambers if one is overloaded. Closing a chamber is a manifestly illegal decision.”
The Belgian state was again at fault by not completely fulfilling the legal framework of magistrates for the Antwerp Court of Appeal, the lawyer added.
Finally, the Antwerp criminal court should have ordered the immediate arrest of Steve Baekelmans in June 2017, argued Mr. Van Eyck. “This did not happen because his detention record was not on file. Another mistake.”
Julie deserves that the State has the honesty to recognize its faults”
Julie Van Espen’s family maintains that the Belgian state committed serious mistakes which led to the student’s death and hopes that the Brussels court of first instance will agree with them. “It seems very difficult to openly admit that we have made a mistake,” lamented Andreas, the young woman’s brother, on Thursday.
“If the authorities get away with it without any sanction, aren’t we sending the wrong message?” asks Andreas Van Espen. “Aren’t we saying to all women: ‘take responsibility for your own security, because the state cannot do that’? Are we not saying to all citizens: ‘a man with a history of raping and ‘strangler was able to move freely, but there will be no consequences for the authorities’ Are we not telling the entire population that in this rule of law, we can commit mistakes with extremely tragic consequences without any consequences? no repercussions?”
“This affair will determine the level of demands that we have regarding the functioning of the State,” continued the young man. “If this level is too low, there will be no future in which we can live in security (…) Julie deserves better than this. Five years ago, she deserved justice, to benefit from a properly functioning judicial system. She was not entitled to it. Today, she deserves honesty.
The Belgian state considers it committed no fault in the murder of Julie Van Espen
The Belgian state believes that it did not commit any fault which could have led to the death of Julie Van Espen in May 2019, her lawyer Stefaan Verbouwe argued Thursday before the Brussels court of first instance. Lawyers for the Van Espen family have previously argued that the murder of the 23-year-old student was the result of a systemic failure of justice and a series of errors.
“The criminal court ruled in June 2017 that no immediate arrest was necessary and based this judgment on a complete file,” explained the state lawyer. “The presence of a detention card in a criminal file is not obligatory and the public prosecutor has very probably argued about the risk of evasion. It has also not been established that a ‘careful judge’ would have ordered the “immediate arrest on appeal if the case had been handled earlier. It is not certain whether Baekelmans would have received the same sentence or a heavier sentence.”
The fact that it took 23 months before the case was judged on appeal was the result of an unforeseen circumstance, explains Mr. Verbouwe. “The file was ready to be processed, but three magistrates were suddenly absent. One because he had to deal with a case at the assizes, two because they fell ill. Without this unforeseen problem, the Baekelmans file would have been treated.”
According to the Belgian state’s lawyer, the shortage of magistrates at the Antwerp Court of Appeal due to budget cuts also does not constitute a fault within the meaning of former article 1382 of the Civil Code.
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