Talk:Court of assizes (Belgium)

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Assize court is being turned into a disambiguation page, so this "summary style" content has got to go. I'm going to deposit here for a few days in case anything can be integrated into this article.

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The Assize Court in Belgium (Hof van Assisen in Dutch, Cour d'Assises in French) is very similar to its counterpart in France. There is one Assize Court in each of Belgium's ten provinces and in the Brussels judicial district, or arrondissement.

The presiding judge is an appellate judge ex officio and is assisted by two active lower court justices. The jury always consists of 12 people picked from among all eligible voters. Jurors must be between 30 and 60 years of age and must be able to read and write. The jury delivers a verdict after considering the facts of the case and, with the judge, assigns the sentence. Their verdicts can only be appealed by the Belgian Supreme Court.

While the Court of Assize primarily hears murder cases, it is the sole Court constitutionally empowered to see and hear cases of suppression of freedom of the press. In reality, there have been few actual cases of this occurring, relegating most relevant cases to the lower courts.