“I was last night (Wednesday, ed.) Working at home when I heard a lot of noise on the street. There was a lot of tumult. I immediately walked outside and saw six young people with a hood a little further on who were kicking someone very hard, “says Jonathan Holslag, mayor of Tienen.
Heavy fight shocks: “Victim dropped bleeding”
On the street, the mayor also came across Elias Cool, party leader of Vlaams Belang Tienen. Together they managed to scare the attackers. “The victim was a little further stupid and then fell. I think he was lucky that we have responded with a number of bystanders, because it could have been much worse,” says Holslag. Cools immediately called the emergency services. The man was eventually taken to the hospital with minor injuries for care.
“We have not actually had youth gangs in this city so far,” says Holslag. I immediately realized that this was not a normal situation. My first assumption was a settlement in the criminal or drug environment. ” But it was only after the facts that there was more to it.
4 million euros
“We learn that it is a well -known Congolese dissident,” says the mayor. The 42-year-old man has been living in our country for a long time and for years of criticism of the regime of the Congolese president. He writes articles and shares messages with his more than 150,000 followers. “It is suggested that a premium of 4 million euros has been promised,” says the mayor. “Neither the police nor our administration was aware of the presence of a dissident in our city. Let alone the possible threats that are expressed from the Congolese government to its address.”
The man lived in the center not far from Holslag. He met the man a few times on the street, but “I had no idea who I was dealing with. Those insights have been aged in the last 24 hours.”
Intelligence service
Holslag is shocked by the incident, but it is especially surprised that he or the police were never informed by the OCAD or the intelligence services about the presence of a person with which a certain risk is accompanied by. “
If something went wrong in the information flow or the intelligence service has been careless, he wonders. For months, articles have been circulating in Congolese, but also in French -speaking Belgian media about the man in question. “There is even a PDF from the Congolese Ministry of Justice in which he is mentioned by name and name and there is talk of that premium. Despite the availability of very concrete information, a file has been negligent despite the availability of very concrete information?
The public prosecutor’s office has announced that a 25-year-old man from Denderleeuw has since been arrested and was interrogated. Five other suspects are still being detected.
