Citizenship Deprivation under the European Convention-System incorporated into the Code of Belgian Nationality (‘CBN’). 62 Currently, the CBN provides three different provisions under which an individual can be deprived of their Belgian nationality. Article 23 provides for the possibility to deprive an individual of their nationality if they seriously fall short of their responsibilities as a Belgian. 63 Committing a terrorist attack or being involved in terrorist activities evidently falls under this definition. In 2012, a new art 23/1 was added to the CBN. 64 This gives rise to a second ground of deprivation: where there is a conviction for certain terrorist offences under art 23/1(1). 65 For example, a person who has committed manslaughter with a terrorist objective for which they are sentenced to five years imprisonment or more, can be deprived of their Belgian nationality under art 23/1. On the other hand, persons who are convicted for recruiting or motivating others to commit terrorist offences are excluded from the scope of art 23/1. Additionally, art 23/1 is equipped with a time-limit: 66 citizenship deprivation is only possible if the person involved has acquired their nationality less than ten years before the terrorist offences were committed. 67 Both restrictions, the limited number of offences and the ten-year time limit, significantly limit the scope of the measure. After the attack on the headquarters of the satirical journal, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris on 7 January 2015, a second wave of legislative initiatives followed. The recent events [attacks in Paris, foiled attack in Belgium] show that the terrorist threat in Europe and in our country has a considerable amount. … The special nature of terrorist crimes, which are, moreover, committed with special intent, justifies a stricter and specific approach, also with regard to the possibility of revocation of Belgian nationality. 68 With the 2015 legislative amendment, all terrorist convictions of more than five years were incorporated into a new art 23/2 as deprivation grounds. 69 Taking into account the Belgian Code Penal, a five year conviction is not particularly high, since the sentences for terrorist crimes only start at three years imprisonment.70 Terrorist crimes involving physical victims will always be punishable by criminal sentences beyond three year convictions. 71 Moreover, the ten year time-limitation of art 23/1 was left out from the new art 23/2, considerably broadening the applicability of this measure. 72 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 CBN (n 5). See also Michel Verwilghen, Le code de la nationalité belge: la loi de 1984 (Bruylant 1985) 27; Wautelet (n 61). CBN (n 2) art 23(1) 2°. ibid art 23/1. ibid art 23/1(1). ibid art 23/1. Wautelet (n 62). Act to Reinforce the Fight against Terrorism (n 5). Original text: Les événements récents (attentats de Paris, attaque déjouée en Belgique) attestent de l’importance de la menace terroriste en Europe et dans notre pays. … La nature particulière des infractions terroristes, qui sont d’ailleurs commises dans un but particulier, justifie une approche plus sévère et spécifi que, y compris sur le plan de la possibilité de déchéance de la nationalité belge. At 8. CBN (n 5) art 23/2. See Code penal (Belgium) Law of 8 June 1867, art 138(1). See, eg, ibid art 137(1)–(3), art 138. CBN (n 5) art 23/1, 23/2. 271