Women torn from mothers by colonial Belgium seek justice
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00:00During two days here in a Brussels courtroom, these five mixed-race women sat side-by-side
00:06facing the court, reliving the terrible first years of their lives in Congo, while the country
00:12was still a Belgian colony.
00:15They were taken from their Congolese mothers and placed in religious institutions, as was
00:20the rule at the time.
00:21During all these years, we lived in shame, knowing that we were the children of sin,
00:28abandoned children, those without identity.
00:33Also present at the hearings were their relatives, who also won answers from the Belgian state.
00:38They need compensation.
00:40They have suffered severe harm and it has remained etched in their memory.
00:45Their souls are wounded and so far, nothing has been done.
00:49And now we expect justice to do its job.
00:52For their part, the lawyers of the Belgian state argued that even if the facts could
00:57be considered crimes against humanity today, that was not the case at the time.
01:03That's an argument that's disputed by the lawyers of the five plaintiffs.
01:12This is undoubtedly a crime against humanity.
01:15The defense of the Belgian state is a defense of denial.
01:18The Belgian state does not recognize the reality of the horrible system, the horrible machinery
01:23that was put in place during colonization to literally eliminate mixed-race children.
01:33A decision is expected on December 2nd.
01:36If the Belgian state is convicted, it would be historic and it could set a precedent not
01:41only in this country, but in other former colonial powers.