No Appeal for Costa Figure After Prosecutor’s Error

A procedural oversight by Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office means no appeal was lodged against the sentence of Tom Bastiaanse, a central figure in the sprawling Costa drug-trafficking case. As a result, his 12-year prison sentence becomes final, and the number of defendants facing a retrial before the Antwerp Court of Appeal falls from 43 to 42.

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, the lapse was first reported on Saturday by Het Belang van Limburg, Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Nieuwsblad. Press magistrate Ann Lukowiak confirmed that no appeal was effectively filed, but the federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment further.

Context: Belgium’s Largest Drug Case

The Costa case is one of the largest drug-trafficking prosecutions in Belgian history, concerning the smuggling of more than 23 tons of cocaine through the Port of Antwerp and an illegal turnover estimated at €3.5 billion. After six attempts and roughly 18 months of proceedings, the Tongeren court delivered a 665-page ruling at the end of July 2026, convicting 51 defendants, including four leaders of criminal organizations, for large-scale importation and participation in criminal organizations.

The heaviest sentences went to Geert Frisson (13 years), Bastiaanse (12 years) and Willy Van Mechelen (9 years). Bastiaanse, 57, was additionally fined €400,000 and ordered to forfeit €15 million. In total, the court imposed more than 245 years of prison sentences, more than €5 million in fines and more than €60 million in confiscations.

Bastiaanse was regarded as the case’s central figure because he had brought together the four criminal organizations named in the dossier.

The Procedural Turn

Bastiaanse had initially accepted the Tongeren court’s ruling. At the end of August, however, the federal prosecutor’s office announced it would appeal — a decision his lawyer, Dimitri de Béco, said he regretted. As VRT NWS reported at the time, de Béco said his client “was tired of the whole procedure after a very long pre-trial detention, and wanted to move forward and begin executing his sentence. For reasons I don’t know, the prosecutor’s office apparently decided to appeal, which I regret.”

On 1 September, the prosecutor’s office confirmed that the case would largely be redone on appeal before the Antwerp Court of Appeal for 43 defendants, including Bastiaanse, Frisson and Van Mechelen. The appeal deadline had expired the weekend before. But it has now emerged that the appeal procedure was never actually started for Bastiaanse.

In Het Belang van Limburg, his lawyers Julie De Moor and de Béco said the oversight carries consequences even as they welcomed the outcome: “We are satisfied because for us it is an acceptable sentence. On the other hand, a lot of time will now be lost before the sentence can begin to be executed. We have to wait until the Costa case comes before the court of appeal to officially establish that there is no question of an appeal. In the meantime, for example, we cannot submit a request for penitentiary leave.”

Bastiaanse has already spent 4.5 years in pre-trial detention.

Analysis: A Fallout With Wider Implications

The error raises uncomfortable questions for the federal prosecutor’s office, which told the public it was appealing a headline sentence it had actually failed to challenge formally. For a case of this scale — tens of tons of cocaine, dozens of defendants and confiscation orders in the tens of millions — the lapse is likely to intensify domestic scrutiny of how the office handled its most consequential prosecution.

The immediate legal effect is narrow but real: Bastiaanse’s sentence stands, sparing him a second trial in which the new Criminal Code would apply and the least severe applicable penalty would be assessed case by case. For the prosecutors, however, the practical outcome is unchanged — they had already called a sentence they now cannot revisit. The forfeiture of €15 million and the €400,000 fine remain in force.

The lapse also introduces uncertainty into the broader appeal. Defense teams may seize on the administrative error to press procedural challenges when the Costa dossier reaches Antwerp. As de Béco noted in September, the retrial will inevitably revive procedural questions that the first-instance court had already resolved.

What’s Next

The Costa case will proceed to the Antwerp Court of Appeal for 42 defendants. Three dossiers that were split off during the trial — involving Lucio Aquino, his nephew and a third defendant — will be heard separately at a later, still-unannounced date. Aquino, whom Italian media have linked to the ‘ndrangheta mafia, has been held in Italy since late 2025.

Open questions remain about why the appeal procedure was never started and whether the federal prosecutor’s office will face any internal accountability for the oversight. For Bastiaanse, the practical effect is a long-awaited finality — though his lawyers say the wait to have that finality formally confirmed will itself delay the start of his sentence.