The Court of Assize, in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 is very similar to the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 court of the same name. It has jurisdiction over all felonies

Felony

A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

 that haven't been correctionalised, over political offences and press-related offences, except those inspired by racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 or xenophobia

Xenophobia

Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...

, and over crimes of international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

, such as genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

 and crimes against humanity

Crime against humanity

Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...

. These courts sit in each of the ten provinces

Provinces of Belgium

Belgium is divided into three regions, two of them are subdivided into five provinces each.The division into provinces is fixed by Article 5 of the Belgian Constitution...

 and in the Brussels

Arrondissement of Brussels-Capital

The Arrondissement of Brussels-Capital is the only administrative arrondissement in the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium. Because it is the only administrative arrondissement in the Brussels Region, its territory coincides with that of the latter....

 capital territory. Unlike the other courts, which have a permanent structure, a Court of Assize has to be constituted for each specific case. It comprises three professional judges and 12 jurors

Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...

.

The presiding judge is to be a judge at a Court of Appeal

Court of Appeal (Belgium)

The Court of Appeal in Belgium is a court which hears appeals against decisions of the Court of First Instance and the Commercial Court. Unlike the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal isn't divided into different divisions. There are five Courts of Appeal in Belgium...

 and is assisted by two judges of Courts of First Instance

Court of First Instance (Belgium)

The Court of First Instance in Belgium consists of three divisions: the Civil Court, the Correctional Court and the Juvenile Court. There is a Court of First Instance for each Judicial Arrondissement.-Civil Court:...

. The jury invariably consists of twelve members, who are balloted out of the citizens having the right to vote at elections and aging between thirty and sixty, and they must be able to read and write. In addition, it is possible to call up one to twelve alternate jurors. Only the jury decides upon the facts, and with the judges the penalty is determined. There is no appeal for the verdicts, apart from one before the Court of Cassation

Court of Cassation (Belgium)

The Court of Cassation is the main court of last resort in Belgium.It was originally modelled after the French Cour de cassation. Its jurisdiction and powers are similar to those of its French counterpart....

.

Mainly handling murder cases, it is the only court constitutionally authorized to judge delicts regarding the freedom of the press

Freedom of the press

Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...

– though few practical cases have been considered to involve an infliction on that freedom and thus nearly all incidents were tried by lower courts.