Brussels, Belgium

More than six years after the 2016 Brussels bombings, presiding judge Laurence Massart will formally confirm on Monday all parties to the case, including the defendants and attorneys for the over 1,000 victims of the assaults that the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for. She will next address the jury, which was chosen last week after a 14-hour procedure involving 1,000 Belgians. The French trial for the Paris attacks in November 2015 and the Brussels bombings trial are clearly related. Six of the Brussels defendants were given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life in France in June, but the Belgian trial will be unique since a jury, not judges, will decide the case.

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On March 22, 2016, three bombs were detonated in the city's subway system, killing 15 men and 17 women, many of whom were citizens of countries other than Belgium, including the United States, China, France, Germany, India, Peru, and Poland. Brussels is also the location of the NATO and EU institutions.

All 10 individuals are accused of taking part in terrorist organisation operations, and nine men face life sentences for several killings and attempted murders committed in a terrorist-related context.

Two of them are Osama Krayem, a Swedish citizen suspected of plotting to be a second bomber on the Brussels metro, and Mohamed Abrini, who officials claim travelled to the airport with two suicide bombers but left before setting off his explosives-filled suitcase. Salah Abdeslam, the primary suspect in the Paris trial, is also charged, along with other people who the prosecution alleges harboured or assisted specific perpetrators. One of the 10 people who were allegedly slain in Syria will face an absentee trial.

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The defendants have not formally affirmed their innocence or guilt in accordance with Belgian legal practise.

Prior to the beginning of the hearings for the approximately 370 experts and witnesses, prosecutors are anticipated to begin reading from the 486-page indictment on Tuesday.

It is anticipated that the trial in the former NATO headquarters would last seven months and cost at least 35 million euros ($36.9 million).

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(With inputs from agencies)

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