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The highest court of Belgium -- Court of Cassation-- has rejected the appeal of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi against India's extradition request, while endorsing a lower court's view that there are no grounds for his claims of flagrant denial of justice, torture or inhuman and degrading treatment in India, according to the order released on Wednesday. Imposing costs of Euros 104 on Choksi, the court upheld the view of the Indictment Chamber of Antwerp Court of Appeal, which had observed that the documentation provided by Choksi was insufficient to make it concretely plausible that he runs a real, present and serious risk of being subjected to flagrant denial of justice or to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment in the requesting State. The Court of Cassation does not re-examine the facts or decide whether extradition is fair or wise. Its role is limited to checking whether the law was applied correctly, and whether procedural rules and reasoning duties were respected. If
The case of fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi challenging his extradition will come up for hearing before Belgium's supreme court -- the Court of Cassation -- on December 9, officials said on Thursday. Choksi has challenged before Belgium's top court an October 17 ruling of the Antwerp Court of Appeal that upheld India's request for his extradition while terming it "enforceable". In response to queries by the PTI, Advocaat-generaal Henri Vanderlinden said the Court of Cassation will hear the case on December 9. The Court of Cassation only checks the decision of the court of appeal "on legal aspects" such as whether the court of appeal correctly applied the legal dispositions, and whether they follow the right procedure, he told PTI. "So, new facts or evidence cannot be placed," he said. "The proceedings are, in essence, a written one. As a rule, all cases are heard. If the court refuses to admit the appeal, it will be on legal grounds, for example, the person who filed the ...
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever insisted on Thursday that his European partners must share the risk of using billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets that are held in his country to help keep Ukraine's economy and war effort afloat in the coming years. Ukraine's budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated to total around USD 153 billion, and the European Union's executive branch has been developing a plan to use Russia's frozen assets as collateral to drum up funds. The biggest tranche of those assets some USD 225 billion worth is held in Belgium, and the Belgian government is wary of using the money without firm guarantees from other EU countries. If we want to give them to Ukraine, we have to do it all together, De Wever told reporters as he arrived for a summit with his EU counterparts in Brussels. If not, Russian retaliation might only hit Belgium. That's not very reasonable. We are a small country, and retaliation can be very hard. They might confiscat
The bail plea of fugitive diamonds trader Mehul Choksi, wanted in India in connection with over Rs 6300-crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB), has again been turned down by a court of appeal in Belgium, just ahead of his extradition hearing before a court in that country, officials said. The court rejected the appeal on strong reasons conveyed by the CBI to the Belgian prosecution that Choksi had escaped from many jurisdictions earlier as well to evade legal proceedings and may flee to another country if let out on bail, they said. Choksi was arrested in Belgium in April on the basis of an extradition request sent by the CBI, they said. His earlier bail application, heard by the Court of Cassation in Belgium, was also rejected, they said Choksi filed another bail application on August 22 and offered to be under house arrest -- under surveillance at home -- but the court of appeal rejected it earlier this week, they said. The arguments in the extradition case of 66-year-ol
India and Belgium have discussed ways to increase boost bilateral trade, foster industrial collaboration, and deepening investments in strategic sectors such as semiconductors, clean energy, defence production, and pharma, an official statement said on Sunday. The two sides also reviewed progress in EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, with both parties recognising the need to address tariff and non-tariff barriers to enhance market access. These deliberations were held during the visit of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal with Belgian Minister of Defence and Foreign Trade Theo Francken and Minister-President of the Flanders region Matthias Diependaele in Brussels on May 2. "The discussions highlighted growing economic synergies and focused on scaling bilateral trade, fostering industrial collaboration, and deepening investments in strategic sectors such as semiconductors, clean energy, defence production, and pharmaceuticals," the commerce ministry ...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Princess Astrid of Belgium and said he looks forward to "unlocking limitless opportunities" for the people of the two countries through new partnerships in trade, technology, defence and agriculture. Astrid is in India leading an economic mission that is aimed at shoring up bilateral trade and investment cooperation between the two nations. "Pleased to meet HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium. Deeply appreciate her initiative to lead a 300-member Economic Mission to India," Modi said on X. "Look forward to unlocking limitless opportunities for our people through new partnerships in trade, technology, defence, agriculture, life sciences, innovation, skilling and academic exchanges," the prime minister said. The overall trajectory of India-Belgium ties has witnessed a steady expansion in the last few years. The focus of the relations has traditionally been on trade and investment. India is Belgium's 14th largest export destination and the 16th