2006 Brussels riots
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Between 23 and 29 September 2006, youths of mainly immigrant descent rioted in Brussels, Belgium, causing the destruction of several shop windows and the burning of ten cars and part of a hospital. The immediate cause of the riots was anger at the unexplained death in custody of a local man of Moroccan origin, Fayçal Chaaban.
A court later found two prison doctors guilty of assault/battery and failing to aid a person in mortal danger, having administered a fatal dose of tranquilizers, and gave them a six-month suspended jail sentence.
Fayçal Chaaban, 25, had been involved in criminal activities since he was 13. He had been convicted for stealing in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005, and had been in prison since 16 September on the suspicion of theft. He started to serve a ten-month term in the prison of Forest, a Brussels municipality,[1] after being caught at the wheel of a vehicle with no driving license and no insurance.
Chaaban was found dead in his cell on 24 September. He died after being administered tranquilizers in his cell. An autopsy on the body failed to throw a light on the exact cause of death. According to police pathologists, the body did not show any traces of violence. Further tests were needed to determine whether there was a link between the tranquilizers and the death, but prosecutors said the results of toxicology tests would take weeks to come back from the laboratory.[2]
Belgian Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx visited the deceased man's family shortly after his death.[3]
