--- description: Koen Geens admitted on Thursday that Belgium should have acted on Turkey's information. title: Belgium's Justice Minister Admits Security Failings image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt683aac9e58f43bc4/69888c7a8e0601b8344652bc/koen-geens.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Belgium's Justice Minister Admits Security Failings  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:13 AM CUTPublished: Mar 24, 2016 7:45 PM CUT  Koen Geens addresses the media after a meeting of EU interior and justice ministers in Brussels, on March 24, 2016. Koen Geens addresses the media after a meeting of EU interior and justice ministers in Brussels, on March 24, 2016.Geert Vanden Wijngaert—AP  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:13 AM CUTPublished: Mar 24, 2016 7:45 PM CUT Belgium’s Justice Minister said Thursday that the Belgian government [should have acted](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/world/europe/brussels-attacks.html "undefined") on a request by Turkey last June to take one of the bombers in Tuesday’s attacks into custody. Koen Geens confirmed Thursday that Turkish police [had previously arrested](http://time.com/4269377/brussels-attacks-belgium-turkey/ "undefined") Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, and said authorities had not heeded their recommendation to detain el-Bakraoui in Belgium, the [New York ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/world/europe/brussels-attacks.html "undefined")[_Times_ ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/world/europe/brussels-attacks.html "undefined")[reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/world/europe/brussels-attacks.html "undefined"). This marks the first major admission from a Belgian official that the government made any mistakes that could have led to the terror attacks. “What’s essential in the story is that with the passing on of the information from Turkey and with the passing on of the information within Belgium, we have been slower than one could have expected under those circumstances,” [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/world/europe/brussels-attacks.html "undefined") Geens. “So, the information was passed on, but we have not been diligent, or probably not.” **Read More:** [_Belgium’s Security Failures Made the Brussels Attacks All But Inevitable_](http://time.com/4269505/brussels-attacks-security-failure-belgium/ "undefined") The March 22 attacks in Brussels have highlighted security challenges facing Europe, and [revealed](http://time.com/4267343/brussels-attacks-isis-analysis/ "undefined") how Belgium has struggled to rise to those challenges. Between the time of Salah Abdeslam’s capture on Friday and the attacks Tuesday morning, police authorities questioned the Paris suspect for only one hour on Saturday, [Politico reports](http://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-terror-attacks-questioned-salah-abdeslam-for-only-one-hour-before-terror-attacks/ "undefined"), because Abdeslam was fatigued and in recovery after suffering a gunshot wound to his leg during his capture. Both Geens and Belgium’s Interior Minister Jan Jambon offered to step down on Thursday, but Prime Minister Charles Michel did not accept their resignations. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/world/europe/brussels-attacks.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4271178/belgium-justice-minister/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4271178/belgium-justice-minister/"},"headline":"Belgium's Justice Minister Admits Security Failings","datePublished":"2016-03-24T19:45:19.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T04:13:24.000Z","description":"\"We have not been diligent\"","url":"https://time.com/4271178/belgium-justice-minister/","keywords":["ISIS","Belgium"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt683aac9e58f43bc4/69888c7a8e0601b8344652bc/koen-geens.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt683aac9e58f43bc4/69888c7a8e0601b8344652bc/koen-geens.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Koen Geens","caption":"Koen Geens","creditText":"Geert Vanden Wijngaert—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4271178/belgium-justice-minister/","name":"Belgium's Justice Minister Admits Security Failings"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: At Least Six People Linked To Brussels Attacks Detained","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fxFDCArz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-22T12:59:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fxFDCArz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4271178/belgium-justice-minister/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4271178/belgium-justice-minister/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```