SECTION I. ACTUS REUS

131. TERRORIST ATTACKS –The first terrorist offence in Title Iter is terrorism sensu stricto: the actual terrorist attacks. This offence was introduced in 2003, implementing the original Framework Decision adopted by the EU in 2002.784 The Belgian legislature adhered closely to the wording of the European instrument when transposing it to Belgian law.

132. TWO LISTS – The actus reus of terrorism sensu stricto in Belgium consists of two lists. Article 137, §2 CC contains the first one. It consists of criminal offences that are also punishable outside of the context of terrorism, for example murder or hostage taking. Article 137, §3 CC contains the second list, which describes actions that do not conform to the definition of other criminal offences outside of a terrorism context, for example, hijacking a vehicle other than an aircraft or a ship (hijacking those is a pre-existing offence featured in §2), or threatening to commit terrorism sensu stricto. Note that this does not mean none of those actions could be punished outside of the context of terrorism since they might be included in other, broader, offences. Carjacking, for example, would constitute aggravated theft or extortion, depending on the circumstances. However, ‘carjacking’ as such is not a specific offence. Aft er its introduction in 2003, Article 137 CC was amended three times. All three of those amendments added items to the lists. In 2009 piracy was added to the list of §2 of potential terrorist offences.