In Brussels, Bombing Survivor Meets Attacker And Finds 'Hope'

Sandrine Couturier was on the Brussels metro when a suicide bomber struck the morning of March 22, 2016, the day of Belgium's worst-ever jihadist atrocity.

The coordinated attacks on the city's metro and airport killed 32 and injured hundreds - leaving Couturier with severe burns to her face and hands.

Ten years on, the 57-year-old told AFP about her long path to recovery that involved meeting the mothers of jihadist fighters, and eventually one of the perpetrators of the Brussels bombings - an encounter that gave her renewed "hope".

Couturier first came face-to-face with Mohamed Abrini at his trial three years ago, when he was already serving a life sentence for his part in the 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 dead.

In both the Paris and Brussels attacks, the Belgian-Moroccan was found guilty of being part of the suicide bomber teams - though in both cases he backed out at the last minute.

Sentenced to a second 30-year jail term for the Brussels bombings, Abrini admitted a "share of responsibility" - and stood out by asking the victims about their recovery.

Couturier recalls how, after she and her husband testified in court, the defendant asked to speak in turn.

Difficult Conversations

"I believe he wished me well, but most importantly he addressed my husband, Olivier - who had just said that only a handful of people had shown interest in how he was coping," she said.

In response, Abrini asked how her husband - indirectly impacted by the attack - was faring.

"It showed he had listened. He recognised my husband as a victim. He showed a certain humanity," Couturier said.

After the trial, the pair would meet twice more in prison.

Abrini, now 41, requested the meeting through a Belgian association that connects offenders and victims and Couturier - already engaged in a process known as "restorative justice" at the time - agreed.

"The first time, he was pretty stressed. He talked a lot, he was a little all over the place. I left thinking I probably wouldn't see him again," she recalled.

But Abrini wanted to give it another try.

Their second encounter, Couturier said, was "very interesting." 

"He was much calmer, composed, he was no longer in solitary confinement. He asked me a lot of questions about how I was doing, about my family," she said.

And she found it made a difference.

"It helped that he asked how I was doing," she said. "Suddenly, I became a person again, not just a victim."

"Before the trial, we were just abstract notions to each other - them, the jihadists; us, the victims."

The courtroom, she said, put everyone's humanity on display.

"I'm not naive - there won't be some grand reconciliation. But meeting us forces them to reflect, to become aware we are real people."

Gave Me Hope

Before meeting Abrini, Couturier had joined a group called "Rebuilding the bonds" that brought together victims and mothers whose sons left to fight in Islamic State-controlled Syrian territory.

"For two years after the attacks, I felt like I had one foot in the grave, I was a wasteland," Couturier said.

It was during that tumultuous time, in 2018, that the sociologist who runs the group, Isabelle Seret, invited her to join.

"I felt a whole host of emotions. I was afraid of confrontation, of hearing things that would be unbearable," she said.

But meeting the group of mothers, and later visiting schools together to speak about their experiences, proved transformative. 

"It allowed me to consider things in all their complexity," she said. "It gave me hope." 

It felt political, too, to "seek out dialogue" rather than be reduced to silence. 

"The attack sought to terrorise us, to stop us from thinking and keep us locked in stigma and division. I refuse to have that imposed on me."

"I want to preserve my freedom."

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)