The man was in pre-trial detention in Antwerp prison after he was arrested for the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend’s partner. Due to the overcrowding of the prison in Antwerp, he shared a cell with five men.
On March 12, he was found there with life-threatening injuries and taken to hospital. The man is said to have suffered serious burns when his cellmates poured boiling water over him. He was also beaten black and blue, showed signs of strangulation and rape and had injuries to his ears and pubic area that were allegedly caused by razor blades. His life was in danger for several days.
Images on TikTok
The perpetrators also filmed the torture and posted the images on TikTok. It is not unusual in Belgium for detainees to have access to their smartphones in their cells. The images taken by the cellmates show, among other things, how the victim is forced to eat feces. He is then also raped.
The serious assaults had apparently been going on for several days without the prison staff noticing anything. Prison director An Janssens said she had never seen such severe and prolonged violence among detainees in her career.
Three of his cellmates are suspected of attempted murder, rape, torture and degrading treatment. The two others are suspected of ‘culpable negligence’: complicity because they did not intervene.
The victim is now on the mend and will be released from hospital on Friday. He gets an ankle bracelet, so he no longer has to serve his pre-trial detention between prison walls.
