A Belgian court has handed down a suspended six-month prison sentence to a man who publicly threatened members of a Turkish association in Limburg province after Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt, according to Belgian regional newspaper Het Belang van Limburg.
The man, who lives in Tessenderlo, threatened members of the Vuslat Association in nearby Beringen on Facebook the day after the coup attempt.
He posted a photograph of himself holding a gun with the message, “Traitors, I am waiting for you.”
The threat was made on July 16, 2016, one day after the coup attempt in Turkey.
A criminal complaint was later filed, leading to prosecution in Belgium.
Although the defendant had a prior conviction for a similar offense, the court suspended the six-month sentence because it fell below the 12-month threshold for immediate enforcement under the applicable rules.
The man was ordered to pay €600, including court costs.
The court also ordered the confiscation of his weapons and ammunition.
The case reflected tensions within parts of Turkey’s diaspora in Europe after the coup attempt, when Turkish associations, schools and individuals perceived as critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government or associated with the Gülen movement faced threats, pressure and attacks.
Ankara blames the coup attempt on the Gülen movement, a transnational civic initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and designates the movement as a terrorist organization. The movement denies involvement in the coup or any terrorist activity.
The Belgian ruling is significant because it treated the Facebook post not as political expression but as a punishable threat, particularly given that it was accompanied by an image of the defendant holding a firearm.
The confiscation order also shows that the court considered the weapons relevant to the seriousness of the threat.
