Brussels Shooting Suspect Freed Over Prison Administrative Error
A man charged with assassination following a deadly shooting in Brussels has been released without any judicial conditions due to an administrative error at Haren prison, according to an investigation by RTBF. The controversial release has raised serious questions about the Belgian justice system’s ability to keep violent crime suspects in custody.
The Shooting and the Release
On December 22, 2024, a 28-year-old man was killed and another person wounded near the Aumale metro station in Anderlecht, Brussels. The attack, linked to drug trafficking, involved a Kalashnikov-type rifle. The suspect was charged with assassination and attempted assassination and placed in pre-trial detention at Haren prison.
On July 10, 2026, the Brussels Chamber of Indictment ordered the suspect’s unconditional release. The reason: the prison’s registry failed to provide the appeal notebook within the legally required 24-hour window following a June 11 decision to extend pre-trial detention. The appeal was only transmitted to the justice system on June 30 — past the legal deadline — forcing the court to order release.
“We did not create a procedural defect. We merely denounced a situation of constant violation of the rights of the defense by Haren prison,” said Me Caroline Dumoulin, the suspect’s lawyer, as reported by RTBF.
A Systemic Crisis at Haren
This is not an isolated incident. At least two other Haren detainees were released in 2025 for similar administrative errors. De Morgen reported in February 2025 that “every Brussels lawyer has a client who was freed due to an administrative error.”
Lawyers describe a registry in chaos. Me Nicolas Crutzen, who represented one of the previously released detainees, explained: “The information was lost in the prison between his signature in the notebook and the moment the prison encodes the appeal. The Chamber was forced to release him.”
Me Benjamine Bovy, a criminal lawyer and member of the Council of the Bar of French-speaking Brussels, told RTBF that these problems are regular and stem from the management of the Haren registry. She noted cases of prisoners being released by mistake without any court order, documents drafted in the wrong language, and inmates serving sentences they should not have been serving.
Understaffing and Overcrowding
Haren prison, which opened in 2022 as Belgium’s largest correctional facility, was designed to hold 1,190 detainees but currently houses approximately 1,440 — 250 above capacity. The registry department has 17 staff positions, but often only 6 or 7 are filled on any given day, with an average of 200 files per employee.
Ruben Van Lancker, a prison officer and CSC union vice-president, warned: “With understaffing, we cannot keep up. Errors will continue if there is no rapid solution.” RTL Info had already reported in November 2024 that detainees could be released due to procedural defects, with union delegate Frederic Sodermans stating that tasks scheduled for completion by 11 a.m. were sometimes not finished until 3 p.m.
Official Response
Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden has opened an administrative investigation and is studying the possibility of digitizing the appeals procedure. Her office stated that “the events are naturally the subject of an administrative investigation” and that they are examining “how procedures can be strengthened.”
However, the minister’s office also noted that “based on currently available information, it cannot be demonstrated that the procedure was not respected or that it was applied incorrectly by Haren prison” — a position that Dumoulin dismissed as contradictory given the court’s explicit ruling.
What’s Next
The released suspect can still face trial before a jury court (cour d’assises) and could receive a life sentence. However, he is now free without any judicial supervision pending that trial.
The case highlights deep structural problems within Belgium’s prison system: chronic understaffing, overcrowding, and an archaic paper-based appeals process that lawyers and unions have warned about for years. Without addressing these root causes — including the staffing crisis and the outdated registry system — similar administrative errors leading to the release of serious crime suspects are likely to recur.