Police release footage of killers
Wed 19/04/06 - Belgian police have released video images of the killers of Joe Van Holsbeeck, the seventeen-year-old who was murdered in the Central Station last week for his mp3 player. The killers were captured on video for a full two minutes.
From the pictures it is clear that the killers hung around in the Central Station for a while before the murder. CCTV footage captured Joe's murderers on video for several minutes.
The two killers were also filmed after the murder, when they ran off, by a CCTV camera installed on a shop in the neighbourhood.
Only pictures on which the two suspects are clearly identifiable will be available.
The police are not releasing pictures of the killing itself.
Identikit picture
On Tuesday the police released two identikit pictures of the killers.
The two murderers are aged between 16 and 18, have dark hair and dark eyes, but the features of their face are not particularly clear.
The police say that a Nike training jacket worn by one of the suspects is the clearest indication towards his identity.
The identikit pictures have been circulated among detectives specialised in youth crime for a few days now, but with little result.
By releasing the pictures to the public at large the public prosecutor's office now hopes to force a breakthrough.
The identikit pictures were compiled using eyewitnesses and CCTV footage in the Central Station.
Funeral
The funeral of Joe Van Holsbeeck takes place on Thursday. The ceremony will be a private one.
Forty pupils from Joe Van Holsbeeck's school, the Sacré-Coeur de Lindthout School, have been invited.
On Sunday at 3 p.m. a silent demonstration will be held in the centre of Brussels.
From Thursday until Sunday members of the public will be able to place letters of condolence in an urn in the Central Station.
A group of immigrant youngsters are planning another silent demonstration this afternoon. They want to show that many members of the ethnic minorities are also disgusted by the murder.