The passengers were being prosecuted for the crimes of "severely disrupting air traffic" and for not "complying with the orders given by the flight captain". They have been acquitted of both charges.

'Not guilty' on both counts

The Brussels court ruled that the passengers were not guilty of the first charge as they did not specifically intend to disturb air traffic.

On the contrary, the court's judgment held that they acted "in sympathy with the deported person or because they were outrage by the situation of this man who was forcibly held down in his seat, screaming 'in pain', according to the passengers, because of the violence committed by the police officers involved."

As for the second charge, the court revealed that about 30 to 40 passengers stood up from their seats to protest the deportation, that the attempted deportation was dropped, and that the flight captain ordered the passengers to sit back down once the deported individual was disembarked. The court ruled that nothing proved that the six passengers disobeyed the orders given by the flight captain, which is the reason why they must be acquitted of this second charge, too.

Huge support

The six defendants were supported by over 100 civil liberties groups, including Liberties member the Belgian League of Human Rights, Tout Autre Chose (A Whole Different Thing), the ADES network, Hart Boven Hard and Vrede. These associations and NGOs had launched a petition asking every citizen to publicly state that under such circumstances they would not "remain silent" and act as the six passengers did.

In addition, several Belgian celebrities from the art world, such as Philippe Geluck, Bénédicte Liénard, Geneviève Damas and David Murgia, showed their support through a short video.

Guilty of 'showing some humanity'

The associations welcomed this judicial victory, but they also denounced the "manipulation of laws" by the state secretary for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, in a statement released after the verdict:

"On the day of the deportation, while the six passengers were still held at the police station, Mr. Francken announced on social media that these people would be prosecuted. It is clear that the purpose of this announcement was to send a political message and get media attention. By rendering this judgment of acquittal, the court showed that it does not let authorities manipulate the laws. This being said, it is to be regretted that this case went this far and that police and judicial resources had to be spent for several months against people who did absolutely nothing but showing some humanity."