Belgium prosecutor demands 18-year prison sentences for suspected ISIS attack plotters

REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian prosecutor demanded on Thursday jail terms of up to 18 years for suspected members of an Islamic State cell dismantled in a bloody raid in the town of Verviers last year.

Among the seven men standing trial is Marouan El Bali who survived a gunfight in January 2015 when police shot dead two armed men. Prosecutors said they had returned from fighting with Islamic State in Syria and were planning an attack in Belgium.

The prosecutor sought a 15 year term for El Bali, state broadcaster RTBF said. He is charged with being a leader in a terrorist group, attempted murder, making and storing bombs and planning an attack.

The prosecutor demanded the largest jail sentence, of 18 years, for Mohammed Hamza Arshad, RTBF said. He had joined Islamic State in Syria and is accused of procuring the weapons for the group.

During the trial Arshad said that he was in contact with Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is believed to have been an organizer of several attacks in Europe, including those in Paris last Nov. 13 which killed 130 people.

Abaaoud was shot dead in a gun battle with French police five days after the attacks.

A verdict is expected by the end of June, a spokesman for the court said.

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