Belgium: Awaiting Trial In Style

While the new wing of Louvain Prison near Brussels is hardly luxurious, its color television sets, recreation rooms and large cells with attached bathrooms make it a relatively comfortable place to await trial. But the situation of the 26 English soccer fans now housed there is anything but comfortable. After being extradited from Britain, they face manslaughter charges arising from riots during the 1985 European Cup championships in Brussels’ Heysel Stadium. Thirty-nine spectators died as they fled rabid English fans. Most of the victims were crushed to death.

The decision to put the suspects in Louvain outraged convicts at other Belgian prisons. Hundreds of inmates hurled stones and set fires at the overcrowded Forest and St. Gilles jails in Brussels. If convicted, the English fans could each be sentenced to ten years in prison.