CHARGES AGAINST FORMER GUANTANAMO DETAINEES

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 000868 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/WE, S/CT AND S/GC E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2019 TAGS: PGOV PTER KJUS BE SUBJECT: CHARGES AGAINST FORMER GUANTANAMO DETAINEES DISMISSED IN BELGIUM Classified By: Acting Political Economic Counselor Robert Kiene, reason 1.4(b) and (d). (C) On May 26 Belgian newspapers reported that criminal charges against two Belgian citizens, Moussa Zemmouri and Mesut Sen, had been dismissed by a Belgian court on request of Belgian prosecutors. Zemmouri and Sen, both born in Belgium, had been arrested in Afghanistan by U.S. troops and held in Guantanamo, but were released in 2005 and repatriated to Belgium. On June 12, Embassy Legatt spoke to Deputy Federal Prosecutor Bernard Michele. Michele said that upon Zemmouri and Sen's release from Guantanamo, Belgian prosecutors attempted to initiate a "criminal association" case against them based on association with ordinary criminal elements not related to Al Qaida or alleged terrorist ties. The prosecutors attempted to gather as much information on the two as possible while the charges were pending. However, they were unable to create a strong criminal case against Zemmouri and Sen and therefore decided to request dismissal of the charges. Michele said that he was disappointed that so little specific information on the two was provided by the USG when they were returned to Belgium. .