Former Belgian state secretary Theo Francken followed a sectarian agenda on Syria - which ended up with a party colleague being found guilty of human smuggling. (Photo: The Council of the European Union)

How Belgian government got caught up in human smuggling

Migration

EU Political

by Koert Debeuf, Brussels,

Melikan Kucam, a member of the Mechelen city council in Belgium for the Flemish nationalist party New Flemish Alliance (NVA), was sentenced by a court on Tuesday (12 January) to eight years in prison for human smuggling.

Kucam in 2015 was given free reign by then Belgian state secretary for asylum and migration, Theo Francken (also of the NVA) to compile lists of Syrian Christians.

The Kucam list contained the names of 326 people who would get a Belgian humanitarian visa - a fas...