BELGIAN Justice Minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, has quit following a ‘monumental error’ that resulted in the brutal killing of two people in Brussels.

On Friday October 20, Vincent Van Quickenborne, Justice Minister of Belgium, officially  stepped down from his position after it was revealed that the horrific shooting and killing of two Swedish nationals in Brussels could have been prevented. 

The victims were gunned down on Monday October 16 on the Boulevard d’Ypres – north of Brussels city centre – by self proclaimed Islamic extremist, Abdesalem Lassoued. Lassoued, who was shot dead by police the day following the murders, had vanished two years prior after being denied asylum and ordered to be deported back to Tunisia. 

Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne stated on Friday morning that “on the 15th of August 2022, there was an extradition demand by Tunisia for this man”, he then continued to explain that “the magistrate in charge did not follow up on this demand and the dossier was not acted upon”.

However, his decision to resign was by reason of his belief that he “must assume all the political responsibility for this unacceptable error”. 

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called the shooting a “brutal terrorist attack” and offered respect for the courage of the Minister on the social media platform, X. 

The attack came as extremist violence cases continue to rise amid global tension over the Israel and Palestine war.