THE
DISAPPEARANCE AND MURDER OF CHILDREN:
AN "AFFAIRE D'ETAT"
(Marc
Verwilghen, 20 April 1999)
by Françoise Van de Morteel
(*)
Julie and Melissa were abducted in Grâce-Hollogne five years ago.
For one whole year of suffering, their parents were the only ones struggling
to find their young daughters in the face of indifference, or even hostility,
from the police.
It is already four years since their remains were dug up in Marc Dutroux's
garden.
The parents of the victims and all the Belgian people now know, thanks
to the work of the parliamentary committee of inquiry and the unremitting
efforts of a few investigative journalists, that on 7 July 1995, thirteen
days after the abduction, the name of a certain Dutroux, already heavily
sentenced for rape offences, was named as the main suspect in a document
in the possession of the chief detective of the local police.
THE POLICE HAD BEEN AWARE SINCE 1993 OF DUTROUX'S PLANS TO TURN HIS CELLARS
INTO HIDING-PLACES AND TO ABDUCT CHILDREN!
But we still don't know why the young girls were not saved, why the police
did not arrest Dutroux!
We don't know why the judicial institutions sacrificed the lives of Julie,
Melissa, and also of An and Eefje who were abducted by Dutroux two months
later, nor why they would have allowed Sabine and Laetitia and many others
to die if it had not been for the unexpected arrival on the scene of the
investigation of the magistrates from Neufchâteau, a small public prosecutor's
department in the province of Ardennes.
This is the key to the mystery: was the good work done by Bourlet and
Connerotte in the investigation into the disappearance of Laetitia in
Bertrix the tiny grain of sand that jammed a judiciary machine that had
worked for years, whether due to blindness, corruption, blackmail or simply
carelessness, in collusion with the abduction of children and of paedophile
rings in Belgium? A judicial machine that rapidly got its act back together
when it was a matter of covering up its faults and of hushing up the shocking
discoveries of the parliamentary committee of inquiry.
In the space of a few weeks, the Bourlet-Connerotte team discovered
the bodies of Julie, Melissa, An, Eefje and Loubna, and saved Sabine and
Laetitia.
In the space of four years, Langlois has not made the slightest progress:
we still know NOTHING about the abduction, the imprisonment, the abuse
and the circumstances of the death of the young girls.
Who abducted Julie and Melissa?
Dutroux? His accomplice Weinstein whom he murdered? Someone else? Using
what vehicle? And where exactly?
Dutroux denies responsibility for the abduction which his wife Michèle
Martin accuses him of...
Investigating Magistrate Langlois did not think it necessary to investigate
other trails. Why not?
It was only on the insistence of the parents and their counsel and by
judicial order that a reconstruction of the events took place on 27 June
2000.
But this reconstruction, as it was organised by the Investigating Magistrate,
was nothing other than a mascarade, extremely painful for the parents:
only three "witnesses" out of twenty-five were called by the Magistrate!
Among them was Melissa's mother, invited to retrace the path followed
in search of the children and the old woman whose testimony is well-known.
Carine Russo, moreover, refused to take part.
WHERE were Julie and Melissa imprisoned?
WHERE may they have been taken? Why have there been no checks on reports
of the presence of young girls at a den of iniquity in Charleroi?
WHY and FOR WHOM were Julie and Melissa abducted? What was the motive
for their imprisonment?
Dutroux is not considered by psychiatrists to be a paedophile. He claims
that he abducted Julie and Melissa to bring them up in his family! So
why did he abduct An and Eefje two months later, and then Sabine, and
then Laetitia, if it is not as he told his accomplices several times "because
it's big money"?
Why did he tell his accomplice Lelièvre that the abduction of An and Eefje
was an order?
And above all, why does Investigating Magistrate Langlois seem to be completely
unaware of these statements, which point repeatedly to the existence of
a ring?
HOW AND WHEN did Dutroux's victims die?
Why did Langlois devote so much energy to trying to prove that Dutroux,
the friend of Michel Nihoul (who is known to have organised orgies), accused
by his ex-wife and accomplice of being at the centre of traffic in pornographic
and paedophile video-cassettes, and with a criminal record, is nothing
but a "lone predator"?
He failed to carry out the most elementary checks only to claim later
that "the inquiry has not been able to prove anything".
In the case of Julie and Melissa, many extremely interesting trails have
still not been taken seriously. Considerable resources have been invested
in a few very improbable trails, while the most serious trails have not
been followed up:
the M. Ferret trail: albums were found at his home with photos of children
taken at the holiday camp where he worked as a concierge, in particular
photos of Julie and Melissa and a T-shirt belonging to Melissa. This man
knew Dutroux.
1. the Feront trail: a very reliable informer who had allowed paedophiles
to be found in other cases, and who had claimed to have met a paedophile
who showed him photos among which he had recognised Melissa; Magistrate
Doutrèwe, head of the investigation into the disappearance of Julie and
Melissa, refused to take this trail seriously for a whole year... But
strangely she sent a police officer to question Feront when Dutroux's
arrest by Magistrate Connerotte was imminent!
2. the Piro trail: on the day after the discovery of the girls'
bodies, this bar-owner (some of his bars are on the Philippeville road,
where Dutroux has a house) phoned the Lejeune family to tell them that
he knew what had happened to the girls, and to tell them that he would
be organising a dinner during which he would make important revelations;
dozens of witnesses have stated that he confessed the same thing to them;
he was murdered shortly afterwards, before he could organise his dinner.
His wife was found guilty of a crime of passion! She claims to have paid
for the murder of her husband for personal reasons.
3. the Tagliaferro trail: this scrap metal merchant, specialised
in the demolition of suspect vehicles, who is proven to have known most
of Dutroux's accomplices, was also murdered shortly after the discovery
of the bodies of the girls; his wife claims that he was killed because
he knew too much about the disappearance of the girls and says that she
too was threatened; she was dismissed as being hysterical; shortly afterwards
she died at her home in a fire whose circumstances were extremely suspect:
the verdict was suicide. The Tagliaferro file was sent to Liège.
4. the Diakostavrianos trail: an accomplice of Dutroux, with whom
he had made several journeys to Slovakia to set up a prostitution ring.
(A video-cassette was found at Dutroux's home showing the rape of a young
Slovakian girl...) "Le Grec's" car might have been used for the abduction
of An and Eefje. Diakostavrianos had already appeared in the abduction
of Elisabeth Brichet in Namur in 1989. Charged in the Dutroux case, but
released in July 1997, he has been found guilty of raping a young mentally-handicapped
girl. This file, handled in Namur, was not added to the Dutroux file!
The "lone predator" theory, which was used in Dutroux's defence, and which
the magistrate supported publicly in August 1998 (before the start of
his investigation into the case of Julie and Melissa which he only began
in February 1999...), leads him to shocking contortions in his investigation:
- He asked at a very late date for a report from a nutritionist to establish
at all costs, according to Michèle Martin, that two 8-year-old girls could
have survived for 106 days (during Dutroux's arrest from 6 December 1995
to 26 March 1996) in a cell measuring 3 square meters, without ventilation
or light, feeding on tinned foods whose existence has never been proven
and wisely consuming Rhohypnol tablets... It is Dutroux himself who claims
to have left these tins in the cell where the young girls were found.
But he has often changed his mind about the exact amount of food, and
even the largest amount mentioned would not have been sufficient to allow
the children to survive... The nutritionist's report lists the many reasons
why it seems impossible for the girls to have survived and concludes:
"possible but highly improbable". What is Langlois' opinion on the matter
(expressed to the Court)? "It is possible."
- Three experts established, with horrific evidence, that the little girls
had been subjected to terrible sexual abuse; these three experts had had
access to the corpses. Three years later, Langlois found nothing better
to do than to ask for a counter-opinion to make sure that the injuries
were really caused by sexual abuse! The expert appointed stated that,
since he had only had access to photos and videos, it was not possible
to say for certain that the sexual injuries were due to rape! Langlois'
predictable conclusion: we should allow Dutroux the benefit of the doubt.
- Implicit conclusion: Dutroux imprisoned the young girls for several
months without touching them or, as one journalist who some people insist
on taking seriously has dared to claim, he intended to entertain them
paternally and wait until they grew up before touching them. The same
Dutroux who raped numerous minors both before and after the abduction
of Julie and Melissa!
Many people have testified before the Neufchâteau investigators about
the existence of relations between Nihoul and Dutroux, in the context
of orgies, from the 1980s onwards.
Dutroux was not a low-life provincial, as he has been depicted. He frequented
swimming-pools, bars and skating rinks in Brussels, where he also met
his future wife Michèle Martin. His bank account show sums of money coming
in which are inexplicable, except for the fact that they coincide with
the deaths and abductions of young girls and children. Why have these
facts been kept secret? Why are numerous elements proving the complicity
of Nihoul (cf. infra) considered null and void by Magistrate Langlois?
Is it to deny the existence of a full-fledged gang of purveyors of children
around NIHOUL and Dutroux?
The Nihoul trail had already appeared in a case of the traffic of children
before the Dutroux case exploded:
At the end of 1995, a police officer from La Louvière, Christian Dubois,
received numerous and reliable complaints - from children, but also from
parents and teachers - stating that several people driving a white Mercedes
were following children or taking photos of them around schools in Mons,
La Louvière, Charleroi, Couvin, Thuin, Chimay, and Beaumont. Dubois investigated
and discovered that the Mercedes belonged to the ASCO scrap metal company,
founded in 1994 in Onezies near the French border.
ASCO was founded by those closest to Nihoul, his partner, a great friend,
the owner of the Dolo - an orgy club - who had been the manager. (The
company would move into the car and spare parts trade. Nihoul had been
in the car trade since 1989.)
Dubois' informer claimed that ASCO was the cover for a ring trading
in children, who were imprisoned for a time in Belgium before being exported
to other countries.
When Dubois passed on this information to René Michaux, head of the cowardly
Operation Othello when the police were supposed to be watching Dutroux,
Michaux did nothing about it, since Dubois' information matched what they
already knew from another source: Dutroux had built the hiding-places
to imprison children destined to be sent abroad! And he did not think
of informing Dubois of this strange "coincidence"!
The "Au nom de la loi" production team (Francophone Belgian TV) which
would devote all its efforts to trying to defend the "Dutroux the lone
predator" theory and to treating witnesses X as deranged, was already
contriving on the basis of statements made by a superintendent from La
Louvière to demonstrate that the story of the Mercedes at school entrances
was nothing but an unfounded rumour when Julie and Melissa disappeared!
Dutroux was in permanent telephone contact with Nihoul the day before
the abduction of Laetitia, the day of the abduction itself, and during
the next few days.
Several witnesses saw Dutroux and Nihoul at the swimming-pool where Laetitia
was abducted on the day before the events. Among these witnesses is the
extremely reliable testimony of a Flemish family who gave a very precise
description of Dutroux's van and of Michèle Martin's children's push chair.
During their first interrogations, Dutroux, one of his accomplices, Lelièvre,
and Annie Bouty herself recognised at least once that Nihoul was the leader
of the gang. "Nihoul will kill me if I speak," said Lelièvre; and in her
fourth statement Bouty admitted that Nihoul was the centre of a paedophile
cassette ring; from that day on she would never be questioned again! The
magistrate responsible told the parliamentary committee of inquiry that
he stopped the questioning after receiving death threats...
Just after the abduction of Laetitia, Nihoul gave Lelièvre Ecstasy pills
for the sum of 500,000 francs; the explanation provided by the two crooks
is that it was the payment for the repair of Nihoul's old car, which wasn't
worth more than 50,000 francs, and which in any case was never repaired.
At the same time the police seemed to believe Lelièvre when he claimed
that he could sell the pills for 20 Belgian francs each, when their normal
market value is around 200 francs!
Laetitia heard Dutroux speaking on the phone to a certain "Jean-Michel"
(Nihoul's first name)...
Why would Nihoul, who lived in Brussels and claims to have good relations
with people, go to Charleroi to get his car repaired?
When and how did he really meet Dutroux for whom he claims to have "valued"
a house where Dutroux told him he wanted to open a "club de rencontres"?
Was it really by chance, in the summer of 1995, after the abduction of
Julie and Melissa? They admit that they saw each other again very quickly
to discuss the establishment of a prostitution ring with Slovakia. (see
Nihoul's book, pp. 126, 127, 129)
According to Nihoul, Lelièvre (who was introduced to him by the arms and
drugs dealer Casper Flier) "turned up at my place once every two weeks"
(p. 128) and "Annie Bouty can't stand Dutroux" (p. 134). When they had
only crossed paths?
Nihoul was in contact with Diakostavrianos, for whom "he intervened with
a magistrate" (p.130).
Nihoul took Dutroux and Weinstein to see Bouty in November 1995 to ask
her to provide him with a passport. This episode took place just before
Dutroux killed Weinstein...
As an informer of police officer Vanesse (charged by Connerotte and since
deceased), Nihoul gave Vanesse orders; Connerotte's team had found two
messages addressed to the officer by Nihoul: "Dutroux lorry wait", and
"Don't touch Lelièvre"!
Should Nihoul's unexplained links with Dutroux and his entourage not constitute
a matter for investigation, and should they not justify keeping him in
detention?
Nihoul is at the centre of the testimonies of witnesses "X", victims of
paedophile abuse in Belgium.
Regina Louf (XI) gave an exact description of the flat of Annie Bouty,
Nihoul's partner during the period when the witness claims to have been
raped by Nihoul in the flat: she was able to remember the address.
Regina Louf described the stables where, according to her, orgies with
children took place, attended by Nihoul. Checks show that Nihoul owned
a horse there at the time of the events described by R. Louf.
The testimonies of other witnesses "X" match that of Regina Louf: not
only the same characters, Nihoul, Van der Elst, but also descriptions
of the same places and the same practices.
In the inquiry into the Champignonnière murder (1984), two important trails
appeared that were not followed up by Investigating Magistrate Van Espen:
the two trails lead to Nihoul.
An anonymous caller told the inquirers to go and check out around the
Dolo if they wanted to find out what had happened at the Champignonnière.
The officer put in charge of the inquiry into the Dolo in 1997 went there
himself to take part in orgies!
One trail leads to Radio-Activité, the free radio station where Nihoul
worked at the time.
Nihoul, who claims that he has never touched minors, frequented paedophiles.
Nihoul knew several paedophiles including one in Brussels, Corvillain,
the owner of a company suspected of being a cover for trade in children
and paedophilia videos. He visited Corvillain often, especially after
going to see his dentist, whose surgery was in the same building: the
dentist was found dead (suicide was said to be the cause of death) right
in the middle of the Dutroux case, shortly after stating that Nihoul went
to see Corvillain after leaving her surgery; it is still not known that
she was the mistress of "X", who was also Bouty's lover, and that she
was swindled out of millions of francs.
All the actors and accomplices in the abduction of Julie and Melissa
arrested by Connerotte in August 1996 are currently free, with the sole
exception of Dutroux, his wife Michèle Martin, and Michel Lelièvre, who
has admitted his part in the abduction of An and Eefje...
Michel Van der Elst, the lawyer struck off the bar who provided Nihoul's
main alibi for the day of the abduction of Laetitia, retracted a few months
ago: Van der Elst had already furnished a false alibi at the time of the
"abduction" of the former Prime Minister Van den Boeynants by the Haemers
gang and had been taken to prison. (Patrick Haemers appears as a suspect,
as well as Nihoul, in the "Tueries du Brabant" case.)
Why doesn't Investigating Magistrate Langlois issue a new arrest warrant
against Nihoul, who no longer has an alibi for the preparation of the
abduction of Laetitia?
Michel Nihoul shows off on our TV screens and skilfully throws out messages
to those who he is able to blackmail.
Why, against the advice of the parliamentary committee of inquiry, have
the public prosecutors "trussed up" the Dutroux case?
The dispersion of the files "linked" to the abduction of Julie and Melissa
is part of a well-known hush-up strategy.
The file on the "car trade" of Marc Dutroux and his accomplices (Weinstein,
Nihoul etc.) should cast light on Dutroux's links with the Charleroi Mafia
and may explain the protection or the "consideration" given to him by
certain police officers and magistrates suspected by the parliamentary
committee of inquiry of having dubious relations with organised crime.
This file has been removed from Magistrate Gerard of Neufchâteau and sent
to Nivelles (to magistrates overloaded with work). The case of the theft
of a lorry in Grâce-Hollogne, the town where the Russo and Lejeune families
live, a case in which Dutroux, police officers and former police officers
are involved, has been sent to Charleroi!
Dutroux has been charged separately in Charleroi for the imprisonment
of three people in November 1995 around this case of the stolen lorry.
The Tagliaferro file has been sent to Liège.
As the chairman of the committee of inquiry has underlined, this obliging
"clean-up" by the public prosecutors has made it possible to avoid a real
trial of organised crime in Belgium.
The dispersion of the files also hinders the parents of the victims, prevented
from asking for access to files that have become "linked", and forces
them to become a private party (associating in a court case with a public
prosecutor) in each case!
It should be pointed out that in Belgium, while the person under charge
has access to all his files, the same is not true for the victims, who
have to apply to the investigating judge, who decides in an arbitrary
manner which files they can consult and copy (at the scandalous cost of
70 Belgian francs per two-sided page).
Moreover, the defence lawyer of the parents of Julie and Melissa has been
refused access to the file on the late Weinstein, murdered by Dutroux,
by Magistrate Langlois, "out of respect for the victims and their parents"!
Why did the judicial authorities draw an abrupt halt in 1997 to the
verification, which was beginning to be conclusive, of the testimonies
of witnesses "X" on the existence of rape, torture, the murder of children
and babies, and the shooting of snuff movies at "soirées" organised for
the Belgian upper classes? (Michel Nihoul appears here, too...)
Why were De Baets and Bille, who heard these testimonies, abruptly removed
from the case, downgraded, charged with malpractice in their inquiries
when two years of judicial investigations against them have led only to
a dismissal of the case?
Why have the two officers not been reinstated?
Why have officers known to have written false papers in order to damage
them not been prosecuted? (A point of detail according to the King's Prosecutor
of Brussels...)
Why did three public prosecutor's departments bring their inquiries to
a halt at the same time on the very day when one of the main suspects,
Tony, admitted to having had sexual relations with Regina Louf at the
age of twelve (which is a crime in the eyes of the law) with the agreement
of her parents, and to having "lent" her to friends? (On the day of Tony's
confessions, 23 April 1998, Dutroux made an attempt to escape which seems
to have been encouraged...)
Why was the "re-examination" of the X files, removed from De Baets and
Bille and entrusted to another team of officers by Magistrate Langlois,
not submitted to the parliamentary committee of inquiry, as was promised
several times, before the end of its proceedings?
Why, years later, is this "re-examination" still "unpublishable"?
Why has the inquiry into the testimonies of witnesses "X" not been resumed
since no fault was committed by the De Baets team and since there is thus
good reason to believe that they are largely credible, even and above
all if their accounts are horrific?
Why have other proven teams of investigators been suddenly dismantled
or certain members who carry out their work too well removed, intimidated
or "promoted" to other tasks? (cf. E. Suys removed from the "Obelix" cell
on Nihoul...)
Some officers have been removed from the inquiry into Julie and Melissa
without any apparent reason; however much Gino Russo asked to be told
these mysterious reasons, he received no reply.
How can the disappearance of parts of the files be explained?
In the inquiry into witnesses "X", a police officer "mislaid" a cassette
confiscated at the home of an important suspect. In the inquiry into Regina
Louf, another officer "forgot" the whole file on the back seat of his
car, which he left for a moment. On his return the file had disappeared.
The officer was not punished.
Paul Marchal states that parts of the file on his daughter Eefje have
disappeared.
Why were dozens of video cassettes seized at the home of Marc Dutroux
on 13 December 1995, which were examined by the police in Brussels from
18 to 30 January 1996, and which according to an operator contained pictures
of car-dealing and of pornographic sequences, returned to Dutroux's lawyer
on the decision on the Charleroi Investigating Magistrate Lorent? The
same magistrate who also returned the speculum seized at the home of Dutroux
to the lawyer of Michèle Martin, the speculum which on the advice of the
head of inquiry in Grâce-Hollogne Warrant Officer Lesage was voluntarily
omitted from the list of items confiscated by officer Michaux during the
search...
Why were the five cassettes that remained in the possession of the inquirers,
transferred to Neufchâteau after the discovery of the bodies of Julie
and Melissa, only registered at the clerk's office of the court on 2 January
1999, two and a half years later, and not examined before that date? Why
have the scenes which show Dutroux working in his cellars and the rape
of a young girl been cut from the copies made at the Brussels gendarmerie?
How can we explain the disappearance of a super-eight tape which a Charleroi
police officer confiscated from Dutroux's wife and deposited at the gendarmerie?
The Police Investigation Committee came up with only one explanation:
"a muddle"!
Why is the MP Anne-Marie Lizon, who stated in September 1996 that recognisable
abusers are visible on the other batch of cassettes seized in August 1996
by Magistrate Connerotte, now pretending, with embarrassment, to go back
on her statements? What happened to the photos of the rape of Sabine that
Dutroux showed Laetitia?
Why did the Brussels public prosecutor's department order the destruction
of an important stock of paedophile cassettes seized in the case of the
paedophile Raemaeckers, two days before Dutroux's arrest?
Why does the judiciary,
political, university and media establishment devote so much energy to
treating witnesses "X" as "mad" and to denying the existence of paedophile
rings in Belgium, when other cases have already proved their existence,
thus becoming the accomplice of a judicial system that does everything
to cover up the truth?
There is nothing mad about Regina Louf (XI). She has given dozens of perfectly
precise descriptions of places where she was taken, she has recognised
her abusers from among the photos that the investigators have shown her.
She has recognised other victims.
Why has the press totally ignored the book "Les Dossiers X, ce que la
Belgique ne devait pas savoir", which contains proof of the existence
of these rings, their members and their protectors.
Why are the 300,000 people whose citizens' action was praised by the
media at the time of the protest march now treated by the muzzled press
as a "mob" beset by dangerous "emotions"?
WHAT ARE THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RAMIFICATIONS OF THE TRADE
IN CHILDREN IN WHICH DUTROUX AND HIS ACCOMPLICES TOOK PART, AND WHY IS
INVESTIGATION PROHIBITED? WHAT IS IT THAT THE POLICE ARE AFRAID TO DISCOVER?
The parliamentary committee of inquiry into the disappearance of children,
headed by Marc Verwilghen, has given an initial response to these painful
questions. In its second report on "protection", it revealed the
infiltration of organised crime in the Belgian institutions and its links
with political and business circles.
It is significant that the committee was forced to conclude
in February 1998, under pressure from the executive and from the political
parties, who rapidly turned the page on the protest march. The committee
was prevented from proceeding with its task of investigating organised
crime in Liège and the strange relations of Warrant Officer Lesage,
who did not pursue the suspect Dutroux, with the circles of prostitution
and the traffic of human beings.
The former members of the committee were even refused access to their
own archives as the result of a vote by their fellow deputies in July
1998!
It is also significant that the constitutional inviolability
of the private life of the royal family has for many years been an obstacle
to the inquiries into the "ballets roses". Some of the testimonies of
witnesses "X" touch the royal family and the perverse influence of Nihoul.
Is this a second explanation of the frenetic attempts to block
justice, quite possibly related to the first?
How can we accept that no sanction was taken against the members of
the judicial establishment, police officers and magistrates, responsible
for mistakes that led to the death of four children?
As was decided by the all-powerful public prosecutors, behind whom
the politicians take refuge!
Some of the investigators who played a key role in the cover-up of the
case have actually been promoted! For example:
The head of the Central Bureau of Investigation of the Gendarmerie, who
failed to circulate Dutroux's name to any of the public prosecutors' departments,
has just received the "Politeia" police award, and is now head of the
Comiyé P, otherwise known as "la police des polices"!
Inspector G. Zicot of the Charleroi Criminal Investigation Police, charged
with complicity in the stolen car trade and indicated by the parliamentary
committee of inquiry as one of Dutroux's main "protectors", has been reinstated
to the Brussels Criminal Investigation Department...
Warrant Officer Lesage, the head of inquiry who covered up the Dutroux
trail was suspended from duty.... for half a day for "having mislaid his
police notebook"... ( which must have contained all the information on
his investigations...)
Sergeant-Major Michaux, who failed to fulfil his duty to draw up reports
on his activities, and also hid extremely important facts from his superiors
and from the magistrates, and even drew up false search reports, is currently
working in the financial section of the Criminal Investigation Squad of
the Brussels Gendarmerie, where he is working on cases involving the Russian
Mafia...
Why was Patrick Derochette, charged with the abduction of Loubna Ben
Aïssa in 1992 and arrested 6 years after the event thanks to the intervention
of the Neufchâteau team, imprisoned without trial in March 1999, on the
decision of the Chamber of Indictments of Brussels? (Where the case
had been transferred...)
The official story supported by the police is that Derochette acted alone
in a state of mental disorder and that he killed Loubna the very day of
her abduction. In fact it is thanks to the testimony of a friend of Loubna
who recognised her in a car with two people, several days after her
abduction, and took note of the number plate, that Magistrate Gérard
of Neufchâteau was able to trace Derochette.
All the trails that lead to his entourage: his family, Nihoul, Lelièvre,
Dutroux and other paedophiles known to the judicial authorities have also
been closed.
In fact the Derochette family frequented the same bars as Nihoul and Dutroux,
which filled up at the Derochettes' petrol station. P. Derochette's brother
provided him with an alibi that has proved to be false.
Regina Louf recognised Derochette's father among those who raped her.
The evidence of the protection that he and his family received from the
local police has been swept aside: the police have knowingly ignored several
other vital testimonies. (An attitude justified by "a touch of nonchalance…
and of sympathy for this gentle nutcase lost in his alcoholic delirium"
Le Soir 24/1/98 …"A gentle nutcase" who had already been imprisoned for
only 50 days, for the rape, torture and imprisonment of three young boys
in 1986!)
It should be noted that the Brussels public prosecutors' department believed
that it would be pointless to open a file on the disappearance of the
young girl…
How can we explain the series of suspect deaths around the Dutroux
case?
- The "suicide" of the counsel for the prosecution of Liège Hubert Massa,
responsible for the file on the murder of André Cools and for the file
on Julie and Melissa, buried the day after his death…
- The "suicide" of Superintendent Antipine of the Brussels criminal investigation
department, a member of the "Nihoul" team…
- The "suicide" of a gendarme in Grâce-Hollogne, shortly after the disappearance
of Julie and Melissa…
- The murder of a bar manager, Piro, who had announced revelations on
the case of Julie and Melissa…
- The "suicide" of Tagliaferro, a scrap metal dealer close to Dutroux:
it turned out that he had been poisoned with cyanide…
- The "suicide" of his wife Fabienne Jaupart who denounced the murder
of her husband…
- The murder of J.P. Taminiaux, a bar porter in Charleroi, close to the
stolen car trade circles…
- Houdemont's car "accident" as he was on his way to make revelations
to investigating magistrate Coméliau about the abduction of Elisabeth
Brichet....
- The "accident" which happened to Gina Beernaer, an employee of a.s.b.l.
Morkhoven, a few days after she announced the delivery of snuff-movies
(which were never found...) to Georges Gladz, President of the C.ID.E.
in Lausanne…
- The "suicide" of Nihoul's dentist…
And the list is not complete.
No date has been fixed for the trial of Dutroux (the latest reports
suggest 2002…) whose lawyers now claim, against all evidence, that he
is no longer in possession of all his faculties…
The former chairman of the parliamentary committee of inquiry, Marc Verwilghen,
elected by an overwhelming majority in the general election of June 1999,
is currently Minister of Justice in a new political coalition in which
the Christian-Socialist Party is not present for the first time since
the war.
We have just learnt, several months late, that he has charged the state
prosecutors to reopen the "X" files and to appoint an independent expert.
Attacked every day by his allies in government, in particular by Elio
Di Rupo's Socialist Party, and by the upper echelons of the magistrature,
who have not forgiven him for having had to account for their actions
before the elected members of the nation … and the TV cameras, he is therefore
pursuing the line of conduct he has chosen.
He still has the trust of the parents of the victims and of the citizens'
movements. But he is very much alone. Having come to power, the Ecolo
Party no longer makes the murder of children one of its priorities.
THERE IS A HUSH-UP IN BELGIUM AND CHILDREN CONTINUE TO DISAPPEAR.
The "discovery" of paedophile rings, the testimonies of children abused
during Satanic rites broadcast by France 3 and the publication of a CD
ROM containing thousands of photos of children by French newspapers has
caused the scandal to explode in France.
The Swiss press has followed the movement and the Geneva police have allowed
parents to consult its files on abused children, many of whom have been
recognised.
The Belgian police had possessed these documents for many months. They
decided to do nothing about it. On the other hand the Chairman of A.s.b.l.
Morkhoven who had procured them, has been charged with the possession
of paedophile materials…
The only hope for reaching the truth in Belgium lies in international
action.
(*) journalist, former senior editor of RTBF, member of the Citizens'
Committees (Comités blancs)
(1) Michel Bourlet: King's prosecutor;
(2) Jean-Marc Connerotte: investigating magistrate at the time of Dutroux's
arrest, relieved of his duties for having attended the famous dinner known
as "des spaghettis";
(3) Jacques Langlois:investigating magistrate who took over from Connerotte;
(4) Au nom de la loi: programme broadcast by the RTBF, the Francophone
Belgian state TV and radio company;
(5)Annie Bouty: former partner of Nihoul;
(6) XTC: ecstasy.
(7) Dolo: private frequented by numerous suspects.