Cousin of Brussels Bombers Is Charged With Ties to Terrorist Network
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office released a statement on Friday saying
that the suspect, Yassine Atar, 30, had been charged with "terrorist assassinations" and "participation as a leader in the activities of a terrorist group." Mr. Atar, a Belgian of Moroccan ancestry, has been in custody since last year, on suspicion of planning an attack against a "march against fear" in the aftermath of the Brussels bombings, according to his lawyer, Sébastien Courtoy.
By MILAN SCHREUERJUNE 2, 2017
PARIS — The police in Belgium have charged a cousin of the brothers who set off suicide bombs in Brussels in March 2016 with being part of the terrorist network
that planned and carried out those attacks and the attacks in Paris in November 2015.
Mr. Atar was also found to have had keys to an apartment on the Rue Henri Bergé 86 in Brussels, which
was used by the network to prepare bombs for the Brussels assaults, and possibly the Paris attacks.
The march, which was to be held in central Brussels in March 2016, was canceled after the police
overheard telephone conversations in which Mr. Atar took part, the authorities said.
Nitrogen, an ingredient that has been used in making bombs, was found on Mr. Atar’s hair and his beard, according to Mr. Courtoy.
But over the past year, according to police documents, the police have been piecing together Mr. Atar’s role in the network.
The apartment also contained bomb-making material, traces of TATP (the substance used in the Paris
and the Brussels attacks), numerous cellphones and documents, police files show.