SW News: Six men were convicted of murder and attempted murder for their roles in the 2016 terrorist attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 300 in Brussels, Belgium. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks carried out at the airport and a crowded tube station.

The six--Oussama Atar (assumed dead), Mohamed Abrini, Osama Krayem, Salah Abdeslam, Ali El Haddad Asufi, and Bilal El Makhoukhi--were held responsible for the killings. With more than 900 plaintiffs, the verdict ends the largest trial in Belgian legal history. It took place over the course of seven months in a unique court designed to handle the unique case.

Charges against the suspects included murder, attempted murder, and involvement in terrorist group activities.

The president of the Brussels court of assizes, Laurence Massart, recalled the destruction caused by the bombers, who were a part of a Belgian-French cell of the Islamic State terrorist organization, during the morning rush hour on March 22, 2016, at the airport in Brussels, in Zaventem, and in a metro station by the EU headquarters.

The bombings terrified the nation and left hundreds of people from almost a dozen nations injured. The two blasts had caused untold chaos.

The verdicts were read In a courtroom that had been specifically constructed for the trial in the former NATO headquarters outside of Brussels.

The seven defendants who appeared in court were led into the defendants' box by armed officers wearing balaclavas and bright pink armbands. Security was tight. Despite being presumed dead following a drone strike in Syria, one of the defendants was tried and convicted in his absence.

Sentences for the defendants will be handed out later, most likely in September. Five of the accused are already in jail after being found guilty in Paris in connection with earlier terrorist attacks in that city. Salah Abdeslam, one of the 10 defendants, is serving a life sentence for his role in attacks on Paris cafes, Bataclan Theatre, and France's national stadium in 2015. French authorities transported him along with four others to Belgium.