Court of assizes (Belgium)

These twelve jurors (Dutch: gezworene, French: juré, German: Geschworener) are selected at random off the electoral rolls used for the Belgian federal elections.

In order to be selected as a juror, one must be aged between 28 and 65, be able to read and write in the language of the trial, not be a cleric, the holder of certain public offices or in active military service, not be disqualified from the exercise of civil and political rights by means of a judgement, and not have received a criminal sentence above a certain threshold.

The prosecution of (suspected) offenders is undertaken by the prosecutor-general's office (Dutch: parket-generaal, French: parquet général, German: Generalstaatsanwaltschaft) attached to the court of appeal.

The defendant in an assizes trial is referred to as the accused (Dutch: beschuldigde, French: accusé, German: Angeklagter).

The decision on whether to correctionalise a crime is either taken by the prosecutor, or either by the council chamber (Dutch: raadkamer, French: chambre du conseil, German: Ratskammer) of the tribunal of first instance or the chamber of indictment (Dutch: kamer van inbeschuldigingstelling, French: chambre des mises en accusation, German: Anklagekammer) of the court of appeal, at the end of a judicial investigation or during the indictment proceedings (see further below).

In practice, most crimes except for the most severe ones are correctionalised due to the heavy burden an assizes trial imposes on the judicial system.

This heavy burden is caused by, amongst other factors, the fact three judges need to be temporarily discharged from their other duties, the number of witnesses that are often made to testify, and therefore the long time an assizes trial can last.

As a result, most of the assizes trials held involve a homicide (murder or manslaughter) or other crimes of a grave nature.

[6] Unlike for trials before the police tribunals and tribunals of first instance, no-one may be prosecuted before a court of assizes without a prior indictment (Dutch: inbeschuldigingstelling, French: mise en accusation, German: Versetzung in den Anklagezustand) by the chamber of indictment of the court of appeal.

Such judicial investigations are overseen by the council chamber, which is chaired by another judge of the tribunal of first instance.

[7] Before the start of the assizes trial, the presiding judge holds a preliminary hearing with the accused and the civil parties (or their counsel).

During this preliminary hearing, the presiding judge will decide on the witnesses that will testify during the trial, and in which order and on which moment their testimony will be scheduled.

The presiding judge may object to any proposed witness if their testimony appears to be trivial and useless to the trial.

[7] At least twenty days before the start of the assizes trial, a list of no less than sixty potential jurors is compiled.

All of these potential jurors will receive a summons for the jury selection, which will happen at least two business days before the start of the trial.

Additionally, up to twenty-four alternate jurors may be selected as well, depending on the nature of the case and how long the trial is expected to last.

[7] The actual trial is held orally, due to the jurors not having access to the documents and reports resulting from the pre-trial investigation.

They have the duty to be attentive and impartial; if they appear to be inattentive or partial, they can be removed from the trial and replaced by an alternate juror.

The presiding judge enjoys an important discretionary power during the trial to order any additional investigative measure he considers necessary to bring the truth to light (which is a feature of the Belgian judicial system in general).

At the end of the jury deliberation, the twelve jurors vote on all the questions posed to them through a secret ballot.

In case the accused is only found guilty by a simple majority of the jurors (meaning seven voted 'yes' and five 'no'), the three judges decide on the question.

After all questions posed have been answered this way, the jurors and judges draw up the motivation for the verdict, which must contain the main reasons as to why the accused is found guilty.

After the verdict of the jury and the motivation are drawn up, they are pronounced in court by the presiding judge in the presence of the accused.

[7] After a guilty verdict, the court will dismiss the charges if the law does not allow for a penalty to be imposed on the accused, such as when the statute of limitations has expired.

When the prosecution and defense have held their pleadings regarding the penalty, the judges and jurors will again retreat to their deliberation room.

The judges and jurors then decide by a simple majority on the motivation for the penalty, which must mention the provisions of the law on which it is based.

After pronouncing the sentence, the presiding judge informs the convict of the possibility of an appeal in cassation, and discharges the jurors of their duty which has been fulfilled.

[8] According to the statistics provided by the college of the courts and tribunals of Belgium, a judgement was rendered in 73 assizes trials in 2016.