Autopsy reports from Brussels attacks stolen: official

A man with a terrorism-related conviction has been charged with stealing information from Belgian prosecutors, including autopsy reports from the 2016 Brussels suicide bombings, authorities said Wednesday.

The man is suspected of having taken a hard disc containing the information when he appeared last week for a probation hearing for a previous prison sentence, the prosecutor’s office said.

The person charged with the theft, identified only by the initials E.K.I., “denies the charges and the investigation has not been able to find the stolen items,” prosecutors said in a statement.

“At this time it is premature to say that it concerns a theft linked to specific documents,” the statement added.

The hard disc contained computer backup information, not just that linked to a specific case, it said.

Denis Goeman, a spokesman for the prosecutors, said “nothing suggests that this theft is linked to the Brussels attacks,” which killed 32 people and wounded hundreds more on March 22, 2016.

The Islamic State group, based in Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack carried out by suicide bombers at Brussels airport and a metro train station.

Goeman said the theft has no impact on the case as the originals had already been stored elsewhere.

A source close to the case said the suspect had fought in Syria, where thousands of European Muslims, including hundreds of Belgians, have waged jihad.

The prosecutor’s office said the suspect, born in 1991, had been give a five-year suspended jail sentence in a terrorism case.