Belgium to begin first trial of 10 bombers

BRUSSELS -- Belgium begins its first trial on Monday to determine whether 10 men played a part in the Islamist suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 that killed 32 people and injured more than 300.

More than six years after the attacks, judge Laurence Massart will confirm the identities of all parties to the case, including the defendants and lawyers representing around 1,000 people who were affected by the attacks claimed by the Islamic State.

She will address the jury, selected from a pool of 1,000 Belgians last week, in a process lasting 14 hours.

The trial of the Brussels bombers was linked to the French trial in November 2015 over the Paris attacks. Six of the Brussels defendants were sentenced in June to jail terms of between 10 years and life in France, but the Belgian trial will be different in that it will be decided by a jury not judges.

The twin bombings at Brussels Airport and a third bombing on the city s metro on March 22, 2016 killed 15 men and 17 women - Belgians, Americans, Dutch, Swedish and nationals of Britain, China, France, Germany, India, Peru and Poland, many based in Brussels, the home of E.U. NATO is led by institutions and the U.S.

Nine men are charged with multiple murders and attempted murders in a terrorist context, with potential life sentences, and all 10 with participation in the activities of a terrorist group.

Among the others are Mohamed Abrini, who prosecutors say went to the airport with two suicide bombers, but fled without detonating his suitcase of explosives, and Osama Krayem, a Swedish national accused of planning to be a second bomber on the Brussels metro.

Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the Paris trial, is also an accused, along with others, who say they have helped or hosted certain attackers. One of the 10, presumed killed in Syria, will be tried in absentia.

The defendants have not declared whether they are innocent or guilty, as per the Belgian court procedure.

Prosecutors are expected to start reading from the 486-page indictment on Tuesday before hearings of some 370 experts and witnesses can begin.

The trial in the former NATO headquarters is expected to last seven months and is estimated to cost 35 million euros $36.9 million.