Terror investigative committee to visit airport, metro this week

The new parliamentary committee investigating the terrorist attacks of 22 March is due to carry out its first on-site inquiry this week. Members of the committee plan to visit Brussels Airport and to Maelbeek metro station, the scenes of the three suicide bombings.

The committee, under the rules of parliament, has all the powers of an investigating magistrate, including issuing warrants, ordering police investigations and interviewing witnesses under oath.

Chair of the committee is veteran liberal politician Patrick Dewael (pictured), a former home affairs minister and Flemish minister-president. Speaking on VTM News, he said he hoped the committee would be able to leave party politics behind and produce effective recommendations for the future.

“The members of a committee like this need to be able to rise above their party’s interests,” he said. “The search for the truth comes first. In a second phase, you look for effective recommendations. We have to find a conclusive response to this form of criminality.” He also wants to interview victims and other key figures in the terrorist attacks, he said.

In the 1990s, Dewael was a member of the investigative committee into the case of serial killer Marc Dutroux, which had the public glued to live broadcasts of its hearings. “You find yourself submerged, as it were, in the drama, and you can’t help but realise the gravity of the situation,” he said.

Photo: pn/De Standaard