Joe Van Holsbeeck
Encyclopedia
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
teenager who was murdered on April 12, 2006 at Brussels Central train station
Central station (Brussels)
Bruxelles-Central / Brussel-Centraal is a metro and railway station in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. It is the busiest train station in Belgium and one of three principal train stations in Brussels, but handles primarily domestic traffic...
. This murder, following the attempted theft of an MP3 player, took place at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon, during rush hour. Although petty theft is not uncommon, and even violent robberies are not unheard of in Belgium, Van Holsbeeck's murder in a crowded train station during the daytime shocked many Belgians at the time. The two perpetrators, who were later arrested, turned out to be Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
juveniles.
Murder
The murder took place around 16:30 hours (4:30 p.m.) on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 in the crowded main hall of BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
Central railway station
Central station (Brussels)
Bruxelles-Central / Brussel-Centraal is a metro and railway station in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. It is the busiest train station in Belgium and one of three principal train stations in Brussels, but handles primarily domestic traffic...
. Joe Van Holsbeeck, a 17-year-old Belgian high school student, and one of his friends were approached by two youths of about the same age. According to reports, the assailants at first asked for directions, but suddenly tried to take off with the victim's MP3 player. When Joe Van Holsbeeck resisted non-violently, he was stabbed five times by one of the two. Van Holsbeeck was then taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries a couple of hours later.
Two suspected assailants fled the station. Initially, Belgian media erroneously reported them as being of Moroccan descent. They were arrested some two weeks later and identified as Polish citizens.
Investigation
Both suspects (plus, perhaps, the murderer's 24-year-old elder brother) had been recorded on very clear CCTV footage in front on the Central Station. One week after the murder, on April 19, the Brussels police issued a description and a police artist's drawing (identikit) of the two principal suspects as well as some CCTV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
footage taken by the station's security cameras. According to news website HLN.be, this delay was due to the police not wanting to aggravate pre-existing racial tensions or cause a witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
against the North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n community (to which the suspects were first believed to belong), although this was not confirmed by the state prosecutor's office.
The quality of the NMBS/SNCB
NMBS/SNCB
The National Railway Company of Belgium, known as the or the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges is the Belgian national railway operator.It is usually referred to in English as "Belgian Railways" or the SNCB....
security cameras that taped the murder has also been a source of discussion. According to some investigators, the quality of the images was too poor to be helpful. However, Belgian authorities denied this claim. In addition, CCTV cameras filmed the two suspects at a subway station following the murder. Those pictures were of excellent quality but were not released. CCTV footage from other sources was also released. These images were of a higher quality than the previous ones and police hoped that they would generate new tips from the general public.
One of the perpetrators, a 16½-year-old Pole was arrested (presumably on April 25, 2006 or the day before). He was identified by his secondary school teachers. The other alleged perpetrator, also from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, fled Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. The 17-year-old youth, the alleged murderer, was arrested in Suwałki, Poland, on April 27. According to the VRT, both suspects were of Roma descent, which might explain why they had been thought to be of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n descent. The murderer, Adam G. was extradited in 2007. In September 2008, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Belgian authorities intended to have him serve at least half of his sentence in Poland, thus ensuring that he would have to serve at the very least 10 years because Polish criminal law demands that a convicted criminal must serve at least half of his sentence. whereas under Belgian criminal law only one third of the sentence needs to be served.
Reactions
The rarity and brutality of the murder and the perceived long wait for any arrests produced a public outcry and reactions from a variety of public figures. Four days after the murder, Belgian Prime Minister Guy VerhofstadtGuy Verhofstadt
Guy Verhofstadt is a Belgian politician who was the 47th Prime Minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament and leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.- Early career :...
contacted the family of the victim by letter, as did the royal family more than a week later.
The erroneous belief that the perpetrators were North Africans affected most of the reactions before the eventual arrest, with Fouad Ahidar, a Belgian Parliament deputy of North African ancestry, calling upon the immigrant community to help in the search for the culprits. Family members and friends of the victim specifically asked that the murder should not be used as propaganda by political parties. Many expressed concerns that the murder would increase support for the right (far right according to opponents) wing Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...
party.
The incident was headline news for several days in most Belgian media. The murder was also mentioned by Cardinal Danneels in his Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
mass.
Many Belgians took flowers to the site of the crime and an online petition was set up to commemorate Joe by having MSN users choose a flower as their their screen symbol. There was also a petition on the Internet in Van Holsbeeck's memory asking for "more security in public places and transports" and to "re-establish a dialog with marginal young delinquents". A demonstration organised by immigrant organisations for April 19 had very little participation.
Joe Van Holsbeeck was buried in private on April 20 in a catholic prayer service without Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
. According to the VRT
Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep
The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders ....
, in order to better accommodate the many attending immigrants, the family opted for a "prayer service instead of a traditional Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
service".
A silent non-partisan march through Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
took place on Sunday April 23 with an estimated 80,000 participants. The Belgian Muslim Executive Council (an official Islamic organisation in Belgium) refused to join the Union of Brussels Mosque Associations in calling for the perpetrators to turn themselves in. According to a spokesman, "So long as the perpetrators have not been identified, we see little use in making a statement. [...] The mere fact that the perpetrators look like Arabs does not mean that they are Muslims. Our role is to support the mourning family. [The council] will be sending a letter of condolences to Joe's parents in the coming days." According to the VRT
Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep
The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders ....
website, an Antwerp imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
said: "The people who know who the killers are, should not remain silent about it and reveal their identity".
External links
- 'Murder Shocks Brussels While PM and Cardinal Blame Victims', The Brussels JournalThe Brussels JournalThe Brussels Journal is a conservative blog, founded by the Flemish journalist Paul Beliën. It was founded in 2005, and has both an English language section with various international contributions, and a Dutch section...
, April 19, 2006 - 'Belgium needs more personal social responsibility', Al Ahram Weekly, May 1, 2006