Diplomatic immunity in a cross-border terrorism case

A terrorist attack, planned to take place in France on 1 July 2018, was prevented through the actions of the Belgian authorities and their partners in Germany, France and Luxembourg. Based on information from their security services, the law enforcement services initiated an investigation at the end of June, on the basis of which arrests were made in Belgium, Germany and France. On the occasion of the arrests, an explosive device was found and dismantled a day before the planned attack. This case, which led to the prosecution and conviction of four suspects, is an important example of cross-border cooperation in a terrorism case, the consequences of which could have been very serious, including the loss of lives. Following a request from the Belgian authorities, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) facilitated the issuance and execution of multiple judicial instruments, both European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) and European Investigation Orders (EIOs), and the coordination among authorities on complex legal issues. As a result of the cooperation between the Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and Eurojust, this report provides a summary of the case and presents the arguments brought forward by the prosecution service in reply to the diplomatic immunity claims of one of the four accused, along with the findings of the court of first instance on this topic. The findings on diplomatic immunity are limited to those of the court of first instance, as the defendant in question withdrew his appeal. However, the report also refers to the appeal proceedings and the subsequent developments in the case. As the case was among the important cross-border terrorism cases handled at Eurojust, the report dedicates a section to the cooperation and coordination support provided by Eurojust to all countries involved. The report ends with some key findings extracted from the judgment of the court of first instance.