The trial saw a number of unsubstantiated claims put forward by Nemmouche’s lawyers, including that foreign intelligence agencies – including Mossad - were behind the attack, that Nemmouche had been recruited by Lebanese or Iranian intelligence to join ISIS as an undercover agent and even that Nemmouche could not be antisemitic because he wore Calvin Klein shoes.
During the trial, Nemmouche was described as “arrogant” and “smirking”. When asked to make a statement, he reportedly said: “Life goes on.”
An accomplice who helped plan the attack and provide the weapons, Nacer Bendrer, was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Ayelet and Shira Riva, the daughters of Emmanuel and Miriam Riva, the Israeli couple murdered at the museum, came face to face with their parent’s murderer at the trial, describing their parents as “devoted” and “loving to travel.”
Prosecutor Yves Moreau had described Nemmouche as a “coward”, who “killed because it gives you pleasure to kill.”
He pressed for a strong sentence, telling the jury: “If you say that in Belgium one can be a terrorist without being punished very severely, then we must not be surprised to see people arrive in this country with bombs or assault rifles in their suitcases.”
