Hainaut assize jury convicts Paolo Falzone of seven murders
The Hainaut assize jury has found Paolo Falzone guilty of seven murders over the 20 March 2022 carnival crash in Strépy-Bracquegnies, and has found Antonino Falzone guilty of failing to assist people in danger. The verdict shifts the case from a catastrophic road incident into one of Belgium's most serious criminal judgments, because the court accepted the murder framing rather than treating the deaths only as involuntary manslaughter. Sentencing is the next decisive stage: Belgian assize procedure separates the finding of guilt from the later penalty debate, in which the court and jury deliberate together. For the families, the La Louvière community and Belgium's carnival world, the ruling is also a public legal reckoning with a disaster that struck a local folk gathering and drew national attention from the King, the federal government and Walloon authorities in 2022.
This matters first to victims' families, La Louvière residents, carnival associations and emergency responders who lived through the 2022 disaster. It also matters to Belgian citizens more broadly because the assize jury has treated extreme driving conduct at a public gathering as murder, a legally and socially weighty signal. For voters and justice-watchers, the case shows how Belgium's jury system handles high-emotion, high-casualty trials outside Brussels and Flanders-centred national debate.
Paolo Falzone (the driver tried over the Strépy-Bracquegnies carnival crash) is the central convicted defendant in the Hainaut assize case. Antonino Falzone, also referred to as Nino Falzone in earlier coverage, was the passenger in the car and was tried separately for his conduct after the crash. Strépy-Bracquegnies (a section of La Louvière in Hainaut province) is the Walloon locality where the crash happened during carnival preparations. La Louvière (industrial city in the Centre region of Hainaut) hosts a major carnival tradition tied to local Gilles groups. The Hainaut assize court in Mons (the provincial jury court for the gravest crimes in Hainaut) heard the case. Gilles (traditional carnival figures in parts of Hainaut, best known from the Binche-area tradition) are central to the local procession culture. The Court of Cassation (Belgium's supreme court for legal, not factual, review) is the possible route for a procedural challenge after an assize judgment.
Background
The 20 March 2022 crash became a national shock because it struck a local carnival gathering in Strépy-Bracquegnies. Earlier contemporaneous accounts recorded six immediate deaths and dozens of injured people; the lead item now reports seven murders in the verdict, indicating the court's count at the trial stage. Belgian assize procedure has itself been contested: the Constitutional Court's 2017 judgment 148/2017 annulled part of a reform that would have reduced assize jurisdiction, citing the constitutional place of jury trials for the gravest crimes. The European Court of Human Rights' 2010 Taxquet v Belgium judgment also pushed Belgium to strengthen the reasoning of assize verdicts.
Why now
The story is timely because the guilt phase of the Hainaut assize trial has produced verdicts against both named defendants. That legal step changes the case from trial evidence and argument into a formal finding of criminal responsibility, with sentencing still to follow.
What to watch
Watch the sentencing phase in Mons, any statements from victims' lawyers or defence counsel after the penalty decision, and whether either defendant later seeks cassation review. The key legal signal will be the court's reasoning on sentence and any procedural challenge that follows.
Opposing perspectives
- Civil parties and prosecution
The strongest prosecution-side reading is that the assize jury's verdict validates treating the crash as criminal intent at the highest level, not merely reckless driving with fatal consequences. The lead item states the jury found Paolo Falzone guilty of seven murders, which gives victims' families a formal finding on culpability before sentencing.
- Defence perspective
The strongest defence-side frame is that the decisive legal issue was the boundary between murder and catastrophic negligence. Earlier historical accounts recorded that the driver had insisted the crash was an accident; after the guilty verdict, any defence effort would likely focus on sentencing mitigation or legal defects rather than relitigating the facts.
Sources & evidence
- View source7sur7.be - Paolo Falzone coupable de sept meurtres, Antonino Falzone de non-assistance à personne en dangerPrimary· 7sur7.be· 12 June 2026Retrieved 12 June 2026· 33 days ago· Dated
- View sourceBBC News - Six killed after car drives into crowd in Belgium· bbc.com· 20 March 2022Retrieved 12 June 2026· 1578 days ago· Dated
- View sourceEuronews - Six killed as car driven into carnival crowd in southern Belgium· euronews.com· 20 March 2022Retrieved 12 June 2026· 1578 days ago· Dated
- View sourceBelgian courts and tribunals - Court of assizes procedural guidance· tribunaux-rechtbanken.beRetrieved 12 June 2026
