Patrick Lagrou, considered Belgium’s main cannabis cultivator, was released after fifteen years of legal proceedings.[1] The Brussels Court of Appeal ruled that his sentence was annulled due to a manifest exceedance of the statutory time limit.[1] On Thursday 7 November 2024, the Brussels Court of Appeal finally ruled in favour of Patrick Lagrou, who is now 65 years old.[1]

In 2009, police discovered 40,000 cannabis plants on Lagrou’s farm in Zandvoorde, West Flanders.[1] The prosecutor’s office had also seized approximately 2.4 million euros.[1] The farmer had been sentenced to five years in prison but had appealed every time.[1] The European Court of Human Rights referred the case to the Court of Cassation, and a new trial took place in 2022, 13 years after the case began and five trials later.[1] By that date, the cannabis cultivator had already served the entirety of his prison sentence.[1]

Last Thursday the Brussels Court of Appeal decided that the sentence had lapsed due to a manifest exceedance of the statutory time limit, meaning the cannabis farmer goes free.[2] His lawyer Samuel Debruyne said more than 15 years of proceedings had taken place and the courts had failed to conclude the case within an acceptable timeframe.[2] The Belgian state should now take responsibility and compensate his client for the harm he suffered, Debruyne said, noting vehicles, money and confiscations were made during the proceedings.[2] Lagrou’s wife had lived in Thailand for all those years, and he looks forward to moving there as soon as possible.[2]