Thanks to decision judge, Man with brain tumor used to be released from prison: « Justice shows her human face » (Ghent)
© Marc Herremans – Mediahuis
Thanks to a decision by a Ghent judge last week, a defendant with a brain tumor in a file used to be left prison. « Someone with a degrading disease does not belong in a degrading situation, » his lawyer argued.
The 27-year-old Gentenaar had to answer to the court on Wednesday for a series of social-law infringements, including the abuse of corona premiums and a number of bankruptcy crimes. According to the Labor Auditorate, the man requested around 76,000 in hindrance premiums during the Coronapandemie, to which he was actually not entitled.
The man was previously convicted in absentia by the Ghent court for one year of effective prison sentence and was then arrested to be in prison in prison, but from his cell the man signed up, which again treated the file.
« It is someone who is not powerful and used by an acquaintance to settle those premiums, » his lawyer Dennis van Overstraeten argued in court on Wednesday. « Of course he should have known better, but his precarious situation has been abused. »
« Humanish situation »
But in addition, the lawyer also had an unusual request for the court. The man was diagnosed that he had a brain tumor and he still has to undergo irradiation for that. « Someone with a degrading disease does not belong in a degrading situation (referring to prison, ed.), » The lawyer argued with conviction.
The lawyer then argued that the prison was not the right place for his client and the judge followed and decided that the defendant could leave the prison. The judge did this by declaring the opposition admissible on Wednesday. Normally this happens with or without the decision whether the defendant is guilty or not and if so what punishment he should be given for that.
Because the judge approached it that way, the judgment for which the man was in punishment was actually no longer in force. He can therefore undergo his therapy at home instead of in a cell. « Justice has shown her human face, » Van Overstraeten concluded.
The verdict falls on June 30 and the man knows his punishment. He could again get an effective prison sentence and have to go back to prison, but Lawyer Van Overstraeten asked the judge because not to do. He pointed to a limited share of his client and his blank criminal record.
