Detainee tortured in Antwerp is allowed to leave the hospital and no longer has to go to jail

The detainee who was tortured in the Antwerp prison by some fellow prisoners is on the mend and will be allowed to leave the hospital on Friday. He does not have to go back to jail, but gets an ankle monitor.

Roy J. (41) was tortured by his fellow inmates for 72 hours in the Antwerp prison just over two weeks ago. He was doused with hot water, beaten, molested and even raped with a broomstick. That happened during a strike. It took several days before a prison director found him badly injured.

According to his lawyer, Isabel De Fré, her client is now improving. Physically anyway. He can leave the hospital on Friday. “Against all odds, he made a speedy recovery physically,” she said. “On a mental level we have to wait and see. He is at the beginning of years of recovery in that area.”

Roy J.’s lawyers found a shelter for him, where he can receive daily medical and psychological care, so that he would not have to return to prison, “to further guide him in trauma processing and to be able to function in the future”.

The investigating judge therefore gave Roy J. permission to remain in pre-trial detention (for the offenses for which he was imprisoned, ed.) to serve outside prison with an ankle monitor. “It took a lot of effort,” says lawyer De Fré. “But fortunately we succeeded thanks to the unprecedented willingness of some emergency workers. Unfortunately, there were few questions from the justice department about how they could support our client. The minister has not yet inquired about his condition to date.”