Policeman gets suspended jail term over migrant child death
(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)BRUSSELS – A Belgian court handed a one-year suspended prison sentence to a police officer on Friday over the shooting death of a two-year-old toddler who was in a van during a high-speed chase of suspected migrant smugglers. According to local media, the van’s driver was sentenced to four years in prison while another alleged smuggler was acquitted. Police shot at the van during the chase, striking two-year-old Kurd Mawda Shawri in the head. AdThe police officer said he fired his weapon after the van swerved in the direction of the police car. Mawda’s death has become a symbol for many Belgians of the injustice that confronts migrants and refugees fleeing their homelands to seek a better life in Europe.