De
Morgen, 8 January 1998
THIRTEEN
SEARCHES PLANNED ON 23 DECEMBER 1996
by Annemie
Bulté and Douglas de Coninck
On 23 December, the
Neufchâteau unit of the Gendarmerie had planned
a series of thirteen searches around the country.
The plan was never carried out, and afterwards it
was deplored. Contrary to the rumours circulating
at the time in police and judicial circles, it
was never a question of arrests in "high
places". The aim of the operation was to
check some of the facts in the testimony of XI
and to chase up some of the suspects in the case
of the murder of Christine Van Hees.
XI claims that when she was
fourteen years old, she gave birth to a child
which was killed "for pleasure" by
members of a network. XI has named people who
knew her before and can testify to the fleeting
existence (five months) of the baby: neighbours
or other people who must have seen the child. She
predicted, however, that "these people will
certainly not want to talk". Thanks to a
nation-wide blitz raid, the investigators hoped
to shed light on the matter. They hoped that at
least one person would talk. Interviews with
former friends of XI had already shown that she
had been through dreadful experiences. In the
area where she spent her childhood, very few
people seemed willing to collaborate with
inquiries. To the extent that the investigators
from the 3rd Criminal Research Section
clashed with the local police (in Knokke, ed.).
In December 1996, when the
Neufchâteau public prosecutor’s department
began searches in the former coal-mine in Jumet
and raided the Abrasax Satanic sect, amid intense
media coverage, it seemed to many observers that
the investigation was completely off-track. So
this was the spectacular operation that was
supposed to sew panic in the corridors of power?
The loss of prestige of the
Neufchâteau investigation was not to remain
without consequence, and contributed to the
discrediting of the 96/109 file (the statements
of witnesses X). In the discussion about the show
of men and means, people threw scorn on Jumet and
Abrasax rather than reflecting about how to
follow up the information given by XI.
Thanks to the
investigations of a team of young policemen, the
body of Loubna Benassa was found on 5 March 1997
in Ixelles. The result was that the high echelons
of the Gendarmerie were mainly cleared in the
report by the Verwilghen Committee with respect
to the old investigations into Dutroux. After
telling the questioners of XI for months that
they were the "life-belt" for the
highly compromised hierarchy of the Gendarmerie,
this was suddenly no longer the case. The plan of
action of 23 December grew in size in the month
of February: there was talk of 47 raids (and it
was still not a question of troubling well-known
figures). Meanwhile there were so many new trails
that it seemed that the great operation would
give a definitive answer to the question of the
credibility of witness XI. Commander Jean-Luc
Duterme, who was appointed head of the
Neufchâteau unit at the end of 1996, had the
plan for 47 raids revised to a minimalist
scenario consisting of two searches. In the end
only one search was carried out: at the home of
XI herself. It did not give the slightest clue as
to the scheme that some people believe to be the
source of her statements. In the meantime,
however, almost all the investigations based on
the 96/109 file have been shelved.
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