Joe Van Holsbeeck

Joe Van Holsbeeck was a Belgian 17-year-old student who was murdered at Brussels-Central railway station on 12 April 2006.

Van Holsbeeck's murder in the main hall of a crowded train station during the afternoon rush hour shocked many Belgians at the time, leading to a media frenzy over the crime and subsequent investigation.

The murder took place around 16:30 (4:30 p.m.) on Wednesday 12 April 2006 in the crowded main hall of Brussels-Central railway station.

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.

Police ultimately interviewed thousands of commuters at the Central Station over the next day in the hope of obtaining more clues as to the identity of the perpetrators.

[2] 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.

[3][4] 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 against the North African community (to which the suspects were first believed to belong), although this was not confirmed by the state prosecutor's office.

[13] 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".

[15] Joe Van Holsbeeck was buried in private on 20 April in a Catholic prayer service without a mass.

[17][18][19] 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.