Eva Kaili will spend the Christmas holiday in jail, a Belgian court ruled on Thursday.
Following a hearing where Kaili’s lawyers pushed for her to be released from jail with an electronic tag, the court instead “extended the pre-trial detention of E.K. with one month,” according to a press release.
The former European Parliament vice president has been in jail for nearly two weeks after being arrested and charged in a sprawling probe into Qatar’s lobbying operation in Brussels that has ensnared a former MEP, a Parliament assistant and an NGO boss.
Kaili can appeal the decision within 24 hours, and have her case reassessed within 15 days. Her Greek lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, said they won’t appeal the ruling.
On Thursday morning, after the hearing, another one of Kaili’s lawyers — Brussels-based André Risopolous — said in front of a large press corps at the Palais de Justice in Brussels: “We have requested that Ms. Kaili be placed on electronic monitoring with a bracelet. She is actively participating in the investigation.”
He added: “She denies any corruption on her part, and you all know that I have decided not to communicate in this case because this investigation is being carried out by the judicial authorities and nowhere else.”
Dimitrakopoulos, speaking in hesitant French, said: “Ms. Eva Kaili is innocent. Never been corrupted, never,” before switching to English and adding: “Eva Kaili is innocent. The hearing is secret.”
Dimitrakopoulos later told Greek TV that the Belgian prosecutor had argued Kaili should not be released because there was a risk that Qatari police forces could send spies to kidnap her and take her to Qatar. He also accused the prosecutor of acting politically to show that authorities in Brussels are “relentless.”
According to Belgian law, a person should be detained either if they are suspected of becoming a fugitive or if there is a risk that they could destroy evidence related to the case upon release, Dimitrakopoulos said.
“Ms. Kaili said from the very first moment that ‘I want to be under house arrest, to have only one phone, no other electronic device, and I accept this phone to be officially monitored by the police and that I have no contact other than with my child,’” he said.
“The prosecutor said that these measures are not enough because the Qatari police forces will send spies to kidnap Ms. Kaili and take her to Qatar,” Dimitrakopoulos added. “I then replied that with this logic, the Qataris could send troops to occupy Brussels and kidnap Kaili and then even the president of the court herself smiled at that.”
He added that they didn’t go to court to beg for Kaili’s release because she has a child.
“The prosecutor said specifically that the fact that she has a child is of no value,” he said.
The decision “sends the message that prison will be the fate of anyone accused in the European Parliament,” he added.
“Brussels is the heart of Europe. I see a prosecutor making a political analysis rather than [using] legal arguments.”
When previously asked if Kaili knew about the hidden money — that is, the €150,000 that Belgian police found at her apartment — Dimitrakopoulos said: “No, never. Never corrupted.”
Objection to leaks
The investigation has included widespread leaks to the press, which has pushed the Belgian federal prosecutor to open an investigation into the source of the leaks.
This prompted Risopolous to ask reporters not to seek “anything else,” while “the fate of Ms. Kaili is for the moment in the hands of the Belgian justice.”
Risopolous added that he had never seen such “violations” of the legal obligation to secrecy in the investigation.
“We will not make any other statement because it is prejudicial to the defense of Ms. Kaili and to the manifestation of the truth in a case of this nature,” Risopolous added.
Another suspect in the case, Niccolò Figà-Talamanca — secretary general of the NGO No Peace Without Justice — was put under electronic surveillance last week, but the federal prosecutor has appealed this decision and wants him locked up as well.
This article has been updated.
