Two teenagers suspected of hacking into the websites of French and Dutch newspapers last week would face a hearing, authorities announced on April 17.
The websites of Le Soir, La Libre Belgique, Darniere Heure, the Sudpresse group, French regional publications including La Voix du Nord, and Union de Reims and l' Ardennai were disabled during the targeted attacks .
According to prosecutors, the two teenagers should be sentenced to five years in prison if the prosecutor decides they are guilty. They will also have to pay a fine of 100,000 euros and compensate for the damages they caused.
In a statement made by prosecutors in Brussels, they said that the regional cybercrime prosecution unit managed to identify the two teenagers who were behind the hacking attacks on Sunday and Monday, and are sixteen and eighteen years old respectively.
The breach, which took place on Sunday night, forced the newspaper Le Soir to shut down its website for several hours.
The Belgian media group Rossel and the IMP group filed a complaint with the authorities. The authorities conducted the necessary investigation and some raids and discovered an address linked to the attacks.
Then the investigator investigated the case and the authorities stated that the investigations do not stop here but that another attempt will be made for the possible involvement of third parties in the case.
A video obtained by police from an anonymous Belgian group describes one of the two teenagers as a young man living in Belgium who likes to play games. The group, which is said to be a hacker, said it shared the information with police to ensure freedom of expression.
