BRUSSELS: The largest criminal trial in Belgian history began on Wednesday with the prosecution of alleged jihadists who have been accused of planning or participating in the 2016 suicide bombings that struck Brussels' metro and airport and 32 people had died.

As the trial got underway, the main French suspect in the dock identified himself as "Abdeslam Salah, 33, electrical mechanic". Salah is already famous for his involvement in the 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, for which he was found guilty in a separate French trial.

Nine defendants were brought before a high-security court at the abandoned former headquarters of the NATO alliance, with only 30-year-old Osama Kreim refusing to stand trial.

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A tenth suspect, Osama Attar, 33, is believed to have died in Syria. Mass jury selection of more than 1,000 citizens began with the hearing on Wednesday.

In a process lasting several months over the next year, the court was to select 12 jurors and 24 potential replacements, who would be required to attend almost daily sessions. The preliminary evidence hearing will begin on December 5.

The Daesh group claimed responsibility for both the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 22, 2016 suicide bombings in Brussels, and investigators believe the same cell, which includes Abdeslam, is based in Belgium.

Following Abdeslam's arrest on 18 March, the group reportedly had plans for additional acts of violence, including attacks on the France 2016 Euro Football Championships. However, after that they progressed rapidly.

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Four days later, on 22 March, two bombers detonated themselves at Brussels' airport and another at a metro station in the city centre, close to the EU headquarters.

Hundreds of passengers and transport staff members were also injured, and six years later, many of the victims, their loved ones and rescue workers are still in shock.

Including Abdeslam, five of the nine defendants who will face trial in Belgium have already been found guilty in the French trial. He is currently serving a life sentence in Belgium and is currently serving a life sentence in France.

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Hundreds of witnesses and victims will testify in the coming months. Some still hope that sharing the details of Belgium's worst peacetime massacre will help them find some solution.