In Tongeren (B) the jury trial has started against the suspects of the murder of Silvio Aquino, on August 27, 2015. The background of the case may become more clear. Was it a kidnapping that got out of hand or the result of a feud with another criminal family, De Standaard wonders.

Silvio Aquino (41) was the leading figure of the Aquino family, a notorious group from Belgian Limburg with connections in the Italian region of Calabria. He was a suspect, but at large, in a sizeable cocaine smuggling lawsuit, in which family members were later convicted.

Aquino himself shot at one of the attackers, who was later left behind on the Dutch highway A73.

One of the suspects is Martino Trotta (62, photo), restaurant owner from Zutendaal, once a friend of the Aquino family. He is said to have hired five members of the Bosnian family Hamidovic, a Roma clan, for the murder.

There are many rumors circulating, including a raid by the clan of Trotta at Antonetta Aquino, Silvio's sister, and about a drug scam by the Aquinos.

In the months after the murder, three of the four perpetrators were arrested in Cologne (Germany) and in Cannes on the French coast.

The Aquinos did their own research. They broke into the morgue where the body of the shot Samson Hudorovich lay. They took a photo and used it to look for traces of the other perpetrators. The photo also led them to Martino Trotta.

Martino Trotta was soon arrested by the police.

The process will take five weeks. There will be 102 witnesses.