Brussels attacks: landlord of two terrorists, Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa released after ten years in prison

His entire sentence has now been served. After ten years behind bars, Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa was released from prison this Monday, report RTBF and the Flemish channel VTM. He is one of the faces of the Brussels attacks of March 22, 2016 and their heavy toll: 36 dead (plus three terrorists) and 340 injured. The Belgian-Rwandan was imprisoned for participation in the activities of a terrorist group and acquitted of assassinations and attempted assassinations in a terrorist context.

The courts accused him of having welcomed into his home Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem, two terrorists who had given up trying to detonate their explosive vests, respectively at Zaventem airport and in the Maelbeek metro station.

When they enter his home, he does not know them, is unaware of their plans, but takes them in at the request of a friend. He ends up understanding who they are but still agrees to buy them clothes. Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa was finally arrested on April 7, 2016 alongside Osama Krayem.

“It will never be behind me”

Now aged 40, the man took responsibility for his wrongs during the extraordinary trial, which took place between November 2022 and September 2023. “Being directly or indirectly linked to March 22, 2016 marks a lifetime. It will never be behind me,” he declared, RTBF recalls. Adding: “All I want is to work towards restorative actions even if we will not repair what happened that day. I will try, at my level, to do something better.”

It is in this sense that Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa is engaged in a process of restorative justice, his lawyer, Me Vincent Lurquin, tells our colleagues. “He was wrong to accommodate these two people, he is aware of it and he is now trying to repair things through contact with the victims,” assures the council.

A graduate in accounting, the man who worked for the Red Cross before the attacks now wishes to reintegrate into society.