Belgium's top court rejects recusal bid in Nicolas Ullens murder trial, sentencing debate to resume 4 November

Top court rejects the recusal request

Belgium's Court of Cassation has rejected a request by the defence of Nicolas Ullens de Schooten to remove the three professional judges sitting on the Brabant wallon assize court in his trial. The ruling was reported on 21 October and allows the proceedings to continue before the same bench. Ullens, 61, was found guilty of murdering his stepmother, a baroness who was shot dead in March 2023. According to VRT NWS, he admitted the facts but disputed that he acted with premeditation. The recusal request was filed on 7 October by his lawyer, Jean-Philippe Mayence, after the guilty verdict and before the sentencing debate, and it halted the trial.

The jury vote at the centre of the dispute

After more than eight hours of deliberation, the jury answered yes to all four questions put to it, covering guilt, premeditation, and the carrying and transport of weapons. The premeditation question was carried 7 votes to 5. The presiding judge then said the three professional judges had joined the majority, a step Mayence argues was unnecessary, since a 7-to-5 result on a secondary question is enough on its own. Mayence also contends that a discussion between judges and jurors necessarily took place during deliberation, had an effect, and covered points that were not argued in open court. He told the court:

“An excess of power, whichever way it was exercised, remains an excess of power.”

Prosecutor asks for the request to be rejected

Advocate general Damien Vandermeersch told the Court of Cassation on Wednesday morning that the procedure had been correctly followed, and he asked the court to reject the request. He argued that if the defence disagreed with holding the trial, it could still appeal to the Court of Cassation afterwards. In his view, the jurors had not questioned premeditation, and the professional judges gave their opinion only after the substantive decision had been settled:

“The jurors did not call into question the existence of premeditation.”

The three judges stated that they had acted within a strictly legal framework. The Brussels court of appeal said a rule of criminal procedure obliges the court to rule on the principal fact when guilt was carried only by a 7-to-5 jury majority, and that this rule strengthens the accused's position.

Ruling and what comes next

The Court of Cassation rejected the request, so the sentencing debate can go ahead with the presiding judge, Pierre Delcour, and his two assessors, according to 7sur7. The trial is set to resume on 4 November. Ullens faces life imprisonment, VRT NWS reports, and no sentence has yet been set. The Court of Cassation also heard a second, much-anticipated case that Wednesday, an appeal filed by Paolo Falzone.