Galway Bay fm newsroom - An Irish college in Belgium and its Director have both been found guilty over a 2014 house fire which killed two GMIT students.
The Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe and its Director Malachy Vallely were the defendants in the case which first came before the Belgian courts in June.
The fire broke out in the early hours of the morning on Friday 31 january, 2014 in a student apartment in the medieval university city.
19 year-old Sara Gibaldo from Oranmore and 22 year-old Dace Zarina from Longford both died in the fire.
The two women were second year students taking a Bachelors of Business degree in hotel and catering management at GMIT and were on erasmus placement at the time of the fire.
They were living in a building owned by Malachy Vallely and while they did not pay rent he was paid by Leuven college to house them.
During the trial Malachy Vallaly was accused of using his apartment as a "cash cow" by renting it back to the college for 23 years.
The court heard that fire safety in the apartment was "completely lacking".
Malachy Vallely has received a a suspended sentence of one year and has been fined €1000 while Leuven College has been fined €10,000
