Nordin El Hajjioui extradited Dubai Antwerp trial innocence claim
Extradited from Dubai in 2024, Nordin El Hajjioui contests his twelve-year prison sentence. Before the Antwerp court, he vigorously denied his involvement in a vast drug and explosives trafficking network.
The defense lawyers, Messrs Hans Rieder and Louis De Groote, point to serious gaps in the investigation and plead for acquittal. They denounce the unfounded attribution of pseudonyms such as "Chief" or "nwa" to their client. A truncated prison recording, concealing the identity of an instigator, allegedly served to wrongly incriminate him according to them.
On Bladi.net : Alleged Drug Kingpin Skips Trial After Dubai Extradition, Faces 12-Year Sentence
Speaking with emotion, the 38-year-old defendant read a statement of about ten handwritten pages. "I have as much to do with this case as Trump taking an interest in the micro-state of Andorra: nothing," he said. He described himself as an honest businessman victimized by the statements of a pathological liar and media lynching.
The defense strategy initially planned the presentation of an unpublished 33-page document detailing the network’s actors, according to the Gazet van Antwerpen. However, the request for a closed hearing to protect these sensitive revelations was rejected by the judges, causing immediate irritation to the accused and his counsel.
On Bladi.net : Alleged Drug Kingpin ’Dikke Nordin’ to Face Trial in Belgium’s Major Arms and Drug Case
This appearance follows a conviction by default handed down earlier this year in the "Bombs and grenades" case. Justice accused this individual, absent during the first trial due to diabetes, of leading from the United Arab Emirates a criminal organization active in the Netherlands and Limburg. The public prosecutor requested the maintenance of the initial sentence.
