Belgian justice decided on Thursday to extend the temporary detention of Greek MEP Eva Kyli, who has been in prison for six weeks in connection with the corruption scandal in the European Parliament involving Qatar, the federal prosecutor’s office said, according to AFP.

The Council Chamber in Brussels supported the position of the prosecutor’s office, which opposed alternative detention measures requested by the socialist MEP’s lawyers.

“The federal prosecutor’s office believes that there are all risks: the risk of flight, the risk of complicity with third parties and the risk of destruction of evidence,” one of the lawyers, Andre Risopoulos, explained to the media after the hearing.

The council chamber, the court that oversees investigations and detentions, met behind closed doors Thursday morning. According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, the order issued this afternoon “affirms the pretrial detention” of Kylie.

Lawyers have 24 hours to appeal the decision. Risopoulos told AFP late Thursday that he had to consult with his client.

Eva Kylie, 44, who was ousted as vice-president of the European Parliament in mid-December, is one of four people jailed in the scandal, which has been dubbed “Cathargate” but also involves Morocco.

She is suspected of receiving large sums of money from foreign countries to influence statements and positions in the European Parliament in favor of these countries.

Kylie denies any wrongdoing, her lawyers said on Thursday, accusing Belgian justice of making her “pay the ultimate price” by keeping her in custody “under difficult conditions”.

During the hearing, her Greek lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, denounced “torture” in connection with her recent “16-hour detention in a police cell.”

According to Risopoulos, the imprisoned Greek MEP was only able to see his 23-month-old child with partner Francesco Giorgi “twice in six weeks”.

That Italian parliamentary aide is also jailed in the case, as is Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former Socialist MEP who is a central figure and who on Tuesday agreed to cooperate with justice in exchange for a limited prison term.

“Mr Panzeri is buying the future and that’s a very good thing,” Risopoulos told reporters.