Casepin
Back to cases

Case file

Jewish Museum of Belgium Shooting

SOLVED2014Jewish Museum of Belgium3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

On the afternoon of 24 May 2014, a gunman opened fire inside the Jewish Museum of Belgium in the Sablon/Zavel district of central Brussels. He shot an Israeli couple, Emmanuel and Miriam Riva, in the museum's entrance, then a Belgian employee, Alexandre Strens, at the reception desk, before shooting a French volunteer, Dominique Sabrier, at her desk in a nearby room. The attack lasted less than ninety seconds and was recorded on the museum's security cameras. The Rivas and Sabrier died instantly; Strens was critically injured and died in hospital roughly two weeks later without regaining consciousness. Belgian authorities characterized the shooting as an antisemitic, Islamist terrorist attack — the first carried out in Europe by the Islamic State.

Following a nationwide manhunt and the release of partial CCTV imagery, Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national, was arrested on 30 May 2014 during a routine drugs check at a bus station in Marseille, France. He was found carrying weapons identical to those used in the attack, a sheet bearing ISIS insignia, and a video in which he claimed responsibility for the killings in the name of ISIS. Nemmouche had a prior criminal record in France, was radicalized while imprisoned, and had spent more than a year in Syria after his release, where French former hostages later testified he had served as one of their guards. A second suspect, Nacer Bendrer, who had met Nemmouche in prison, was identified and arrested for supplying the weapons used in the attack. Investigators also identified a third suspect, but the chamber of indictment found the evidence against him too weak and the charges were dismissed.

Nemmouche and Bendrer were formally indicted in April 2018 and tried before the court of assizes of Brussels beginning in January 2019. The defense argued that Nemmouche had been framed by foreign intelligence services and that the Riva couple were undercover Mossad operatives; investigators and attorneys for the victims' families testified that Miriam Riva had worked for the Mossad only as an accountant, in a non-operational role, before her retirement. On 7 March 2019, the jury found Nemmouche guilty of the four terrorist murders and of illegal weapons possession, citing DNA evidence, a matching footprint at the museum entrance, his self-incriminating videos, and eyewitness identification. Bendrer was found guilty of weapons offenses and of being a co-author — rather than merely an accomplice — of the attack, based on phone records placing him in contact with Nemmouche and evidence that he supplied the weapons.

On 12 March 2019, Nemmouche was sentenced to life imprisonment with 15 years of judicial surveillance; Bendrer received 15 years' imprisonment with 5 years of judicial surveillance. Bendrer's appeal to the Court of Cassation was rejected on 18 September 2019, making the convictions final. In October 2019, the court of assizes awarded nearly one million euros in damages to the victims' next of kin and the Jewish Museum.

Key facts

Victims
Miriam Riva, Dominique Sabrier, Emmanuel Riva, Alexandre Strens
Date
2014
Location
Jewish Museum of Belgium
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 2014-05-24

    A gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, fatally shooting an Israeli couple, Emmanuel and Miriam Riva, at the entrance and a French volunteer, Dominique Sabrier, at her desk; a Belgian employee, Alexandre Strens, was shot at the reception desk and critically injured. The attack lasted under ninety seconds and was captured on the museum's security cameras.

  2. 2014-05-27

    Emmanuel and Miriam Riva were buried in Tel Aviv, with the Belgian ambassador to Israel attending the ceremony.

  3. 2014-05-30

    Mehdi Nemmouche was arrested during a routine drugs check at a bus station in Marseille, France, carrying weapons identical to those used in the attack, a sheet bearing ISIS insignia, and a video claiming responsibility for the killings.

  4. 2014-06-10

    Alexandre Strens, who died of his injuries in hospital, was buried in a Muslim cemetery in Taza, Morocco.

  5. 2017

    Belgium's federal prosecutor's office requested that indictment proceedings begin against Nemmouche and Bendrer.

  6. 2018-01-25

    The council chamber of the Brussels tribunal of first instance referred Nemmouche and Bendrer to the chamber of indictment of the court of appeal of Brussels.

  7. 2018-04-19

    The chamber of indictment formally indicted Nemmouche and Bendrer; charges against a third, unnamed suspect were dismissed for insufficient evidence.

  8. 2019-01-10

    The trial opened before the court of assizes of Brussels with the prosecution reading the act of accusation.

  9. 2019-03-07

    A jury found Nemmouche guilty of four terrorist murders and illegal weapons possession, and found Bendrer guilty of weapons offenses and of being a co-author of the attack for supplying the weapons Nemmouche used.

  10. 2019-03-12

    Nemmouche was sentenced to life imprisonment with 15 years of judicial surveillance; Bendrer was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment with 5 years of judicial surveillance.

  11. 2019-09-18

    The Court of Cassation rejected Bendrer's appeal, making the criminal sentence final.

  12. 2019-10-22

    The court of assizes awarded 985,000 euro in damages to the victims' next of kin and the Jewish Museum.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Miriam Riva

    VICTIM

    Israeli woman on holiday from Tel Aviv with her husband; shot at the museum entrance and died at the scene.

  • Dominique Sabrier

    VICTIM

    French museum volunteer in her sixties; shot at her desk in a nearby room and died at the scene.

  • Mehdi Nemmouche

    CONVICTED

    French national who carried out the shooting; found guilty by jury of four terrorist murders and illegal weapons possession, and sentenced to life imprisonment with 15 years of judicial surveillance.

  • Emmanuel Riva

    VICTIM

    Israeli man on holiday from Tel Aviv with his wife; shot at the museum entrance and died at the scene.

  • Nacer Bendrer

    CONVICTED

    Supplied the weapons Nemmouche used in the attack; found guilty of weapons offenses and of being a co-author of the terrorist attack, and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment with 5 years of judicial surveillance.

  • Alexandre Strens

    VICTIM

    Belgian museum employee in his twenties; shot at the reception desk and died in hospital roughly two weeks later without regaining consciousness.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Jewish Museum of Belgium

50.8408, 4.3533

View on the map

Common questions

What happened to the victim?
On 24 May 2014, a gunman fatally shot four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels in an antisemitic, Islamist terrorist attack — the first carried out in Europe by the Islamic State. French national Mehdi Nemmouche was convicted in March 2019 of the four murders and sentenced to life imprisonment; Nacer Bendrer, who supplied the weapons used in the attack, was convicted as a co-author and sentenced to 15 years.
Where did the shooting happen?
Jewish Museum of Belgium.
Who was convicted?
Mehdi Nemmouche (French national who carried out the shooting; found guilty by jury of four terrorist murders and illegal weapons possession, and sentenced to life imprisonment with 15 years of judicial surveillance.) and Nacer Bendrer (Supplied the weapons Nemmouche used in the attack; found guilty of weapons offenses and of being a co-author of the terrorist attack, and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment with 5 years of judicial surveillance.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Belgium

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICJewish Museum of Belgium shootingWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — BBC NewsBBC News · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — The GuardianThe Guardian · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026

  1. JUL 13, 2026Correction

    Catalog QA: moved to the archive tier without removing the public dossier.