“Five former directors of the grand ducal gendarmerie were dismissed on charges of perjury during the trial held in 2013 and 2014. These same persons benefited from a reversal of the committal order handed down at first instance, and a decision to dismiss the case on the grounds of an offence under article 141 of the criminal code (obstruction of justice),” explains a press release from the public prosecutor’s office.

The judgment of 28 October 2024 confirmed the order of first instance in that it referred a former member of the mobile brigade and two former officials of the Sûreté publique to a criminal chamber on the charge of perjury. One of the defendants has since died, leading to the case against him being declared “extinct.”

The Court of Appeal also confirmed, “although for other reasons, the contested order in that it decided that there is no need to prosecute the five former leaders of the grand ducal gendarmerie, nor the former member of the mobile brigade of the gendarmerie, in connection with the explosives attacks themselves.”

The Court of Appeal “also decided that the criminal file does not contain any decisive evidence justifying the institution of an additional measure on the count of the explosive attacks against the former head of the mobile brigade.”

Following the settlement of the procedure by the chamber of the council, second instance, the lower court will also have to rule on the charges against two other people who were initially referred to the criminal division.

All the accused remain presumed innocent until all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.

“Bommeleeër” refers to a series of attacks carried out using explosives stolen from quarries between 30 May 1984 and 26 March 1986. A total of five people were injured in the attacks, which have given rise to all kinds of hypotheses about the perpetrators and their motives. Some of those involved have died since the investigations began.

This article was originally published in .