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Early life of Dutroux

Dutroux was the eldest child of five of Victor and Jeanine, who were both teachers. He spent the first years of his life in Congo. After the Congo crisis his parents had to return to Belgium. Dutroux reported that he was repeatedly beaten by his parents. His parents divorced in 1971 and Dutroux left home. He then became a drifter and a male prostitute. Dutroux married at age 20 and had two children. He admitted to beating his wife and cheating on her. They seperated in the 1980s. One of his mistresses was Michelle Martin, who he later married and had three more children with.

Grave errors by law enforcement and persecution

Start of Dutrouxs criminal career

Dutroux was first convicted in 1979 of theft, violent muggings, drug-dealing and trading in stolen cars.

Early release of Dutroux after abduction and rapes

Dutroux had already committed similar crimes (kidnapping and rape of young girls). He had been jailes for that in 1989. He was however released early and was thus able to reoffend. Namely he was released in 1991 after only serving three and a half years of a thirteen year sentence. Dutroux had for example abducted Axelle D. on December 14th 1985. During her testimony she told the police that Peteghem had told her that "he was part of a gang" lead by two gang leaders "an Italian and a crazy stupid one." Jean Van Peteghem admitted to have taken part in the abduction. He said he had abducted the girl with Marc Dutroux and Michelle Martin. He had lived in the caravan of Dutroux after being discharged from the military and having his marriage fail. Peteghem told police that the first victims of him and Dutroux were two girls from Morlanwelz. The victims were never recovered by police. On June 7th 1985 the first proven abduction by the two took place. They abducted eleven years old Sylvie D.. On October 17th 1985 the pair abducted Maria V., 19 from Peronnes-lez-Binche. Maria V. also identified a third man that took part in her abduction and appreared to be in his fifties. The man was never found by police. On Januar 17th 1986 Catherine B., 18, was abducted from Obaix. Dutroux has one or two accomplices in her abduction that were never found by police. Peteghem was stationed as army personnel in Germany during that time and could not have assisted Dutroux. On December 18th 1985 Dutroux abducted Elisabeth G., 15 in Pont-à-Celles. Peteghem told police that Dutroux filmed Elisabeth naked and took pictures of her. At the beginning of February 1987 Martin, Dutroux and Peteghem were arrested. This had to a large extend been the fault of Peteghem who had given out a lot of information about him in conversations with the girls, which had been enough for police to identify him. The three were eventually convicted on April 26th 1989. Dutroux received 13,5 years. Peteghem received 6,5 years and Martin received 5 years. Dutroux received a harsher sentence because he had also committed several robberies with Peteghem. Dutroux was thus additionally convicted for the brutal robbery of a 58 year old woman. The robbery was also committed with accomplices. One of the accomplices in this robbery was also never found by police. The early release of Dutroux was against the advice of the public prosecutor and against the advice of psychiatrist who had examined him in prison and stated that he remained dangerous. The early release was grated by Melchior Wathelet.

Granting Dutroux state assistance and sedatives

While in jail he managed to convince a health professional that he was disabled because of mental illness. He thus was able to collect public assistance by the Belgium government of 1.200 $ a month. He furthmore convince the professional that he needed sedatives for sleeping problesm. Dutroux later went on to use those sedatives to sedate his victims.

Failure to follow up on letter of Dutrouxs mother warning of kidnapped girls being held at his house

In 1995 Dutrouxs mother wrote a letter to the authorities stating that she knew that Dutroux had kidnapped two girls and was keeping them at his house.

Failure to rescue Melissa and Julie while they were still alive

After Melissa and Julie were kidnapped in 1995 it took police 14 months to arrest Dutroux even though he had been a prime suspect from the start and had committed similar crimes before.

During the search for Melissa and Julie police visited Dutrouxs house twice on December 13th and December 19th where Julie and Melissa were held. However no attempts were made to free them even the locksmith that accompanied the police man, René Michaux, said that he heard screams of children coming from inside the house. The locksmith repeatedly said: "I'm not leaving before we turned the place upside down. The screams are clearly coming from inside the house." To which Michaux replied: "Who is the police officer here? You or me?"

Dutrouxs arrest on car theft charges

Around the time of Eefje Lambrecks and An Marchal's deaths, Weinstein and a man named Philippe Divers stole a van and hid it in a hangar; after it was found there by the hangar's owner, it was taken away by the police. Dutroux and Weinstein suspected that Divers and his friend Pierre Rochow had betrayed them, and on the night of 4 November, wishing to interrogate them about the van, Dutroux and Weinstein lured Divers and Rochow into Weinstein's home in Jumet and drugged and sequestered them, before leaving to go to Rochow's house to search for clues about the van. There they found his girlfriend Bénédicte Jadot, whom they took with them back to Jumet and questioned before leaving again to pick up another person. While they were away, Jadot escaped and alerted a neighbour, who called the police. With Weinstein wanted by police, Dutroux decided to kill him to prevent being caught. He kidnapped Weinstein and held him in the dungeon at his house in Marcinelle between 13 and 20 November. During this time, he let Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo roam freely around the house. After feeding him food laced with Rohypnol, Dutroux placed hose clamps around Weinstein's testicles until Weinstein told him where his money was hidden. Dutroux then killed Weinstein by burying him in a hole on his (Dutroux's) property in Sars-la-Buissière. In December, Dutroux, having been recognised by Rochow, was arrested. Marc Dutroux was arrested on the 6th of December 1995 on car theft charges and subsequently convicted to three months in jail. During the three months Melissa and Julie died of starvation and dehydration in their dungeon cell as the wife of Dutroux didn't feed them, even though she knew that they were there.

Failure to review video tapes confiscated from Dutroux

During the search of the houses of Marc Dutroux several video tapes were found. Those were never looked at. Some of them showed Dutroux constructing the dungeon in which Melissa and Julie were held. Had police looked at it, they would have found the dungeon and Melissa and Julie. The video tapes had been in possession of the police since December 1995. They had been passed on the to the prosecutors in the case but not to the judges. Furthermore the some of the video tapes were actually returned to Dutroux by police officer René Michauxm without ever being looked at. The later leading investigator Michel Bourlet said that some of the video tapes had disappeared and that he want to have them all recovered and reviewed.

The videos were reportedly stolen after they were returned to Dutroux. In 1999 some of the tapes were finally reviewed. One of them showed Dutroux raping a young woman in Slovakia. The videos could have made it possible to identify other victims and also exactly determine the severity of the torture that the victims had to endure during their ordeal.

Later during the trial the lawyer of one of the victims, Laetitia Delhez, also expressed disappointment that the videos weren't reviewed, because they could have proved that Dutroux wasn't acting alone.

Escape of Dutroux in 1998

In 1998 Dutroux was allowed to have a look at his case files. He was accompanied by two police officers for that. When one officer went on a break Dutroux overwhelmed the other officer and was able to escape. He was captured a few hours later. Belgium's police chief, justice minister and interior minister resigned.

Failure to analyse DNA from basement dungeon

Thousands of hairs were found in the cellar dungeon where Melissa and Julie were held. However those were for a very long time not tested for DNA.

Inquiry into officer De Baets handling of the police investigation

An inquiry was initiated into the way the investigation was handled by officer De Baets. As this inquiry into his handling of the case took up a lot of resources and during the inquiry it wasn't possible for him to pass on information to the Parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the case, crucial time was lost.

There were accusations that language difficulties obscured the investigation. The testimony of Régina Louf was in Dutch, however it was reviewed several times by the new investigators who were primarily French speaking and they had difficulties in understanding her. Thus they changed the meaning of her testimony in a way that made her sound less credible.

Failure to properly investigate leads to Slovakia and Czech Republic

Several sources said that Michel Nihoul and Marc Dutroux were planning on a prostitution and trafficking operation between Slovakia, Czech republic and Western Europe. Several pieces of evidence lead to connections to Slovakia and Czech republic. This included a video tape of Dutroux raping a young woman in Slovakia that wasn't reviewed after it was seized. It also included testimonies saying that they were planning on setting up a trafficking operation. Also the car theft and smuggling operation that Dutroux was involved in lead to those two Eastern European countries. During the time of his arrest Dutroux was in the possession of 2.000 SKK (Slovakian currency) in cash. Six Belgian investigators visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia in August of 1996. It wasn't possible to proof that Dutroux had committed any crimes while being there. Thus they returned without any substantial evidence.

Accusations of cover-up

Many Belgian people believed that Dutroux was part of a pedophile network, that included high- ranking members of the Beglian establishment and that the other people involved were never prosectued.

Judge Jean-Marc Connerottes removal from the case

Press reports claimed that before his removal judge Jean-Marc Connerotte was on the verge of publicly disclosing the names of high level government officials who had been recognized on video- tapes. Judge Jean-Marc Connerotte had said that the business man Michel Nihoul was the brains behind the child kidnapping operation. Investigators also believed that Dutroux and Nihoul were planning on a long distance prostitution trafficking network involving cars and the import of girls from Slovakia. The investigating police said in 1996, that Dutroux was part of a child- prostitution ring, that may also have been responsible for several otehr disappearances still unsolved. They also said that the gang surround Dutroux offered 5.000 $ per girl they received. Their criminal activities also involved car theft. It was said that the criminal network around Dutroux was involved in car theft and smuggling. The car in which Melissa and Julie were kidnapped has never been found. .The general prosecutor, Anne Thilly, decided to have the car theft and smuggling be investigated by different police authorities in different parts of the country. In this way it was nearly impossible to investigate the connection between the car theft, kidnapping and human trafficking. Dutroux also said that Nihoul had proposed to traffick girls from Eastern countries. Michel Lelièvre the accomplice of Marc Dutroux said that the two girls Melissa and Julie were kidnapped as an order by a third party. However while in arrest Lelièvre stopped cooperating with the authorities. He told police that he had been threatened and couldn’t risk saying any more. .

The father of Melissa Russo, Gino Russo, said during the White March that the removal of judge Connerotte was like "spitting on the grave of Julie and Melissa." Russo subsequently said that after Connerotte was removed there was no progress in the investigation.

Dutrouxs wealth and assets

Dutroux owned ten houses. He was in total worth 6 million Francs. While he had all of this wealth in property he also received public assistance of 1.200 $ a month. It isn’t clear how Dutroux was able to acquire the 10 properties. Documents were released by Wikileaks that show that large sums of money in different currencies arrived in Michelle Martins bank account timely linked to the disappearances of the abducted girls. . Other outlets suggested that he was able to acquire his wealth through criminal activity such as drug trafficking and insurance fraud. Additional sources said that he made a lot of money with car theft and pimping.

Claims by the victims families

The father of one of the murdered girls, Paul Marchal, the father of An Marchal accused the police and the judicial system of a cover- up in 2001. He was angry that still in 2001 the trial hadn't started even though Dutroux had already been under arrest for several years. Paul Marchal said: "It feels like they don't want to find the truth. It is not a good feeling and not only I think this." Carine Russo and her husband Gino Russo were not permitted to identify her daughter and look at her body. They were told by authorities that Dutroux had identified her and that that was enough. The autopsy of Melissa showed that she had been raped repeatedly over a prolonged period of time. No DNA evidence was taken from the body to conclusively make sure that only Dutroux had raped her. Dutroux always denied raping Melissa and Julie. Eventually several families of victims boycotted the official trial stating that it was a circus and there had been no progress in the case since the removal of judge Connerottes.

Failure to test hairs in the dungeon for DNA evidence

There were countless hairs found in the dungeon where the two girls were held. The judge Langlois refused to have them tested for DNA evidence even though the leading police investigator Michel Bourlet had begged him to have them analyzed in order to know whether more people aside from Dutroux were involved. The general prosecutor of the case, Anne Thily, said that she didn't believe that there was anyone else involved and thus didn't have the samples analyzed. Thily told investigative journalist Frenkiel that: "In any case the hairs have all now been analysed - all 5,000.' And the results of this analysis? Nothing. No evidence of any relevance in the Dutroux affair. Which proves, of course, that Langlois was right all along." But according to Frenkiel this wasn't true. Sources central to the investigation confirmed that in 2002 the hairs had still not been analysed. Thus Frenkiel accused the senior prosecutor Thily of lying brasantly. Frenkiel continued to question Thily and asked her how she would want to prove that Dutroux raped the girls, as he was denying it and there was no DNA evidence. Thily then replied that there were DNA tests, but that the results came back inconclusive as the bodies were too decomposed at the time the samples were taken. Dutrouxs lawyer, Xavier Magnee, said during the trial proceedings “I speak not only as a lawyer, but also as a citizen and father. He was not the only devil. Out of the 6.000 hair samples that were found in the basement cellar where some of the victims were held, 25 “unkown” DNA profiles were discovered. There were people in that cellar that are not now accused.” However it was never attempted by the prosecution to match those DNA profiles to people implicated in the case. . Magnee also said that the prosecutors didn’t follow up on evidence leading to a cult called “Abrasax”, which allegedly performed human sacrifices. In a wooden house of Bernard Weinstein (accomplice of Dutroux) a letter was found from the occult sect "Abrasax", in which a gift for the high priestress (Dominique Kindermans) was mentioned consisting of 17 girls between the age of 2 and 20 for anal, oral and vaginal sex. It was signed by priest "Anubis". This priest was later identified as Francis Desmedt. Later investigations showed that four police men in Charleroi were also members of the sect, one was even the treasurer. The headquarter of the sect (Institut Abrasax) in Rue Emile Vandervelde 223 Forchies La Marche was raided in 1996 by 150 officers. The television showed police taking away bags of papers, video cassettes and a refrigerator. They also took away black magic ritual implements and human skulls.

Removal of police officers from the case

Several police officer that had worked on the case were subsequently removed in 1997. They were reportedly removed because they had manipulated evidence surrounding the testimony of Régina Louf. However the involved officers always denied that accusation. This included officer Rudi Hoskens, who believed that the testimony of witness X1, Régina Louf, was true because her testimony matched an unsolved murder case that she could have had no knowledge on, had she not witnessed it. What she described was the murder of then 15 year old Christine van Hees. She said that the girl was tortured to death by the group and that Nihoul took part in the torture. She said Dutroux watched. Christine's body was found in 1984. The officer leading the investigation, Mr. De Baets, said that they followed up on all testimonies the X witnesses had given, in order to determine whether what they said was possible or not and that they came to the conclusion that it was possible that the things had occured as the witnesses described them. As this took up a lot of resources and time of the police force an inquiry was initiated into the handling of the case, which then again took up as much resources as the investigation of Mr. De Baets itself. It was said that: "The suspicion grew that De Baets and others formed part of a sect bent on destabilising the kingdom." So De Baets and large parts of his team were removed from the investigation and sent home on indefinite leave. Not only was De Baets dropped from the investigation, he was also charged in 1997 with concealing the fact that Louf had wrongly identified the photograph of one of the victims. However on the video tapes of her interrogation it is visible that it was very hard for her to stand looking at the photographs and that her right answer had been in the files all along. In 1999 De Baets was exhonerated from the charges. Additionally two journalists from Le Soir Illustre, who had defamed him and four colleagues were convicted to pay two of them 55.000 $ plus court costs. Even though De Baets had been exhonerated, he and his colleagues remained on leave.

Promotion of René Michaux, who failed to save Julie and Melissa

The officer that searched Dutrouxs house while Julie and Melissa were likely still alive on the 13th and 19th of December 1995. However even though the locksmith that he inspected the house with suggested they should search the whole house to find out where children's screams were coming from, Michaux left after not having searched the house thoroughly. Not only did Michaux fail to rescue Julie and Melissa, he also failed to look at video tapes that were confiscated from Dutrouxs house. Those video tapes showed him constructing the dungeon, which would have led them to the place where Julie and Melissa were kept. Some of the videos also included tapes of Dutroux raping women. A large amount of the tapes was returned to Dutroux without ever being looked at by law enforcement. Even though René Michaux committed grave failures in his duty as a police officer in what was one of the most important criminal cases in the history of Belgium, he was never removed or put on leave like other officers had been. He was subsequently promoted to the position of police commissioner.

Arrests of law enforcement personal believed to be connected to Dutroux

At least seven members of law enforcement were arrested on suspicion of having ties to Marc Dutroux. One of them was Georges Zico a police detective believed to be an associate of Dutroux. According to prosecutor Michel Bourlet, Zico was charged with truck theft, document forgery and insurance fraud.

Judge Van Espens close ties to suspect Michel Nihoul

The judge presiding of the Dutroux case, Judge Van Espen, had a close relationship to Michel Nihoul. A journalist releaved that as a lawyer Nihoul had represented the wife of Nihoul. Van Espens sister was the godmother of Nihouls child. However even though his close friend Michel Nihoul was involved in the case, Van Espen never resigned. He was also not removed from the case for a very long time. Even though judge Conerotte had been removed simply for attending a fundraising dinner. Van Espen was further more the judge presiding over the murder case of Christine van Hees from 1984. He only resigned from this case in 1998 when Nihoul was accused of being involved in the murder and van Espens close ties to Nihoul were revealed.

Testimony of judge Jean-Marc Connerottes in court

Judge Connerottes testified in the Dutroux case on the 4th of March 2004. He broke down in the witness box stating that there had been high- level murder plots to stop his investigation into the child-sex mafia. He stated that he had to drive in bullet-proof cars and had armed guards around him at all times because shadowy figures from the crime world were threatening him. The police had informed him that murder contracts had been taken out against the prosecutors in the case. He alleged that organised crime methods were used to discredit his work and make sure that the investigation would end in a judicial failure. Connerottes criticised authorities for not rescuing Julie and Melissa even though Dutroux had been a prime suspect for one year before they were found dead. The judge also said that he had received files describing a child- sex network. It described seizure of children and foreign trafficking. The sum of 150.000 Francs was mentioned as the price for a girl. Connerottes also said that he was doubtful about the official explanation on how Julie and Melissa died. It was said that they starved to death in the dungeon. An adult can last about three days without water and maximum 60 days without food. If they received nothing to drink and eat they should have been dead very soon after Dutroux was imprisoned. However Michelle Martin insisted that they were still alive when he returned. Connerottes had even written to King Albert in 1996 stating that his investigations into crime networks were being blocked because suspects "received serious protection". The judge said that the "dysfunctional judiciary" was breaking down as mafia groups took secret control of the "key institutions of the country".

Letter of judge Jean-Marc Connerottes to King Albert II

A letter of juge Connerottes addressed to King Albert II in 1996 stated: "This institution seems to acquire its authority and supremacy over sectors of the justice system by relying on a complex and secret modus operandi, that of the appropriation of certain key circuits of our institutions created and regulated by the Law. It is a matter essentially of political, financial, police, and media circuits. This mafia-style criminal phenomenon is evidently not peculiar to Belgium, but it involves particular manifestations that are well suited to this small country. We can imagine the obstacles that a judiciary inquiry will meet when investigating such facts: numerous taboos, problems of mentality, and a lack of cultural reference on the issue in order to be able to become aware of or deal with such criminal phenomena, taking advantage in Belgium of official reticence in terms of their acknowledgement, which favours or supports their occultation. The function of a criminal system of this sort is obviously to serve its fundamental purpose, the pursuance of particularly profitable illicit activities, such as money-laundering, and to protect the ‘legitimacy’ of its activities and the impunity of its agents. This indispensable function corresponds to the motive of criminal protection that assures the permanency of the incriminated system by means of the infiltration of the certain circuits of our institutions, especially the police force, a veritable ‘knot’ which my whole investigation has come up against."

Book by chairman of the parliamentary inquiry Marc Verwilghen

Marc Verwilghen, the chairman of the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the Dutroux case, reported attempts in a book he published in 1999 to stifle their investigation into how the case had been handled. Verwilghen eventually published a book which claimed that the commission’s findings had been muzzled by political and judicial leaders to prevent the revelation of details which would have implicated the complicity of additional perpetrators. Mr Verwilghen claimed that senior political and legal figures refused to cooperate with the inquiry. He said magistrates and police were officially told to refuse to answer certain questions, in what he described as 'a characteristic smothering operation'. Verwilghen blamed Mr Langlois for refusing to hand over evidence of official protection for Mr Dutroux. He said that if they had received that information, their report would have been without doubt more precise and detailed. Verwilghen added that for him, the Dutroux affair was a question of organised crime.

Statements by senator Anne-Marie Lizin

The Belgian senator Anne-Marie Lizin commented on the case saying: "Stupidity (by the police) can't be the only explanation. It's a question of stupidity, incompetence and corruption. Dutroux must be a friend of somebody important. Or else he was being protected because he was known to be a police informant." Lizin said Dutroux was not a true pedophile, as he has been portrayed. He had a record of dealing in stolen cars, selling arms to hoodlums and trafficking in prostitution. "When he discovered that men paid a lot more for little girls for prostitution, he started kidnapping them," she said. When Dutroux finally was arrested, police found in his house video films of him raping little girls. They said he did this so he could sell the films to pedophiles.

Attempts to have access to Dutroux Dossier from Wikileaks blocked in Belgium

In 2009 Wikileaks published the Dutroux Dossier. Belgian authorities tried to have the dossier taken down. The prosecutor general of Liege, Cedric Visart de Bocarme, said ‘’” There is some true, some false, some very disparate information here, involving some people who have done nothing wrong, who have simply been mentioned in an investigation and are thus exposed to public contempt, whereas all this material should have remained classified.”’’

Michel Nihoul

Michel Nihoul was a business man that was known to frequently attend sex parties. He was accused of being the brain behind the child kidnapping and abuse operation around Dutroux. Nihoul was charged in relation to the case with “kidnapping, rape, conspiracy and drug offenses.” Nihouls lawyer in the case was, Frederic Clement de Clety. His lawyer denied all charged made against Nihoul by Dutroux and called him a ‘’“liar and manipulator.”’’ When the investigative journalist, Olenka Frenkiel, met Nihoul in Brussels he reportedly greeted her with the words "I am the monster of Belgium." He told her that he was certain that he would never be prosecuted. During the encounter he grabbed her, tickled her and pulled her unto him so that she called for her colleagues to help her get away from him. Frenkiel was working on a documentary on the case for the BBC.

The X files

The X files were testimonies of people who claimed to have been victims of Marc Dutroux. They had been created after judge Jean-Marc Connerotte had made a public appeal for victims to come forward. In total at least ten victims subsequently contacted the police. All of the witnesses were given the code name "X number". One of the witnesses names, namely X1, was revealed to be Régina Louf. X1 said that from the age of 11/12 onwards a family friend named Tony Van den Bogaert took her to sex parties with the approval of her family. Several witnesses and family members of Louf confirmed that she had a sexual relationship with Tony Van den Bogaert starting from at least age 12. However Tony Van den Bogaert has never been interrogated, charged or convicted for sexual abuse. She claimed that other minors were present at the sex parties and that those were secretly filmed for blackmail purposes. She said: "It was highly organised. Big business. Blackmail. There was a lot of money involved." During her testimony she described some regular clients including judges, a prominent politician and one banker. She gave the police names, addresses and detailed description of two murders that matched unsolved cases of the two murders of teenage girls. Louf said that the parties didn't only include sex but also sadism, torture and murder. She claimed that one of the organisers of the parties was a man she knew as Mich (Jean Michel Nihoul). Louf described him as a cruel man, who sadistically tortured girls.

Louf said that Marc Dutroux was at that time a young man who brought drugs to the parties for the girls to numb themselves and took care of them in other ways. As a reward he was also allowed to use them for his pleasure. The crimes that Louf described took place about ten years prior to the arrest of Dutroux. Régina Loufs full name was leaked to the press. She was subsequently made out to look like a fantasist and liar. The new presiding judges declared that she was not a credible witness and that her testimony and the testimony of the other X witnesses would not be used during the trial. One of the other X witnesses, who's real name wasn't revealed, but who's now working for the police said that they had witnessed and experienced similar abuse. They also recounted instances where children were chased through the woods with Dobermans.

Witness X3 testified that one of the people present at the gatherings that involved sex orgies with minors, torture and murder was Willy Claes, secretary general of the NATO. Claes resigned after he was found guilty of corruption in a tendering process for a large defence contract connected to a large military helicopter producer from Italy.

The testimony of X2 implicated that Etienne Davignon, Maurice Lippens, Paul Vanden Boeynants, Benoit de Bonvoisin and Prince Alexandre of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha were named as having been present at orgies involving underaged persons.

A book was published in November 1999 titled: "The X-Files: What Belgium Was Not Supposed to Know About the Dutroux Affair." It was written by two journalist from the Flamish Belgian newspaper De Morgen, Annemie Bulte and Douglas De Coninck and another journalist from the French Belgian newspaper Journal du Mardi, Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. It claimed that the X witnesses were much more believable than stated by the media. But it also stated that there had been substantial efforts by the magistrates and senior police officials to demolish the testimony of the X-witnesses. The father of a police officer that was murdered while investigating a car smuggling ring, Judge Guy Poncelet, said that the book was brilliant and convincing. He said he believed that crucial evidence had been down played by the authorities.

Public outcry

In October 1996 more than 300.000 Belgians marched through the streets of Brussels after the beloved judge Jean-Marc Connerotte was removed from the case. He was removed for attending a fundraising dinner for the families of the victims, which the court system claimed damaged his impartiality. They demanded an investigation and reform of the police and justice system. The protest was called the "White March". Judge Jean- Marc Connerotte was beloved by the public because the only two surviving victims were rescued on his initiative, which made him a national hero.

The guardian reported in 2004 that "the entire credibility of the current reformist government of Guy Verhofstadt and Belgium's very reputation as a normal civilised country is on the line."

Dutrouxs tesimonty

Dutroux claimed that he was a low dog in a powerful pedophile network. He further claimed that Michel Nihoul was the organizer of their abductions. .” He said that he did torture and abuse all of the girls but denied killing any of them until the very end. Dutroux further denied the kidnapping, raping and murdering Melissa and Julie. He however admitted to incarcerating them at one of his houses. On the case of Melissa and Julie Dutroux also claimed that he had “protected them from a power and sinister child sex ring.” His testimony that he never raped Julie and Melissa was somewhat supported by examinations of psychiatrists in 1996 stating that Dutroux didn't fit the pedophile profile. He wasn't attracted to children. But might have chosen to abduct younger victims because they were easier to manipulate and control.

Dutroux admitted to abduction and rape of the other girls. He also admitted to burying his accomplice, Bernard Weinstein, alive for "letting the girls die." Dutroux further said that two unidentified policemen had taken part with him in the kidnapping of An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks. He boasted about having build the dungeon in which An and Eefje were held for a while. He said: ‘’"I wanted to create a hiding place to spare them from being sent to a prostitution ring."’’Dutroux admitted to raping Eefje. He said that Weinstein had raped An. He also admitted to drugging both of them. Dutroux also admitted that he kidnapped Sabine Dardenne and raped her. He also admitted to kidnapping and raping Lateita Delhez but not handing them over to Nihoul ‘’“to spare them the fate of An and Eefje.”’’ Dutrouxs lawyer, Xavier Magnee, repeatedly said the the prosecution never followed up on evidence of a network surrounding Dutroux.

Michelle Martins testimony

Martin testified that Dutroux and Weinstein kidnapped Melissa and Julia. She also said that Dutroux had told her that he had murdered Weinstein. Martin further said that Dutroux and Weinstein had killed An and Eefje. She further testified that Melissa and Julie starved to death in their basement in 1996 while Dutroux was in jail. She calims, that she was too scared to go down into the basement. Martin said that Dutroux had already decided to abduct girls in 1985. He had said that it was easier to abduct and rape girls than having to start affairs with them. This way he would also have more resources and time to spend on her. So she had to help him with the abductions.

Judges

• Jean-Marc Connerotte (on his initiative two girls were rescued, was removed from case for attending fundraising dinner for families)
• Judge Jacques Langlois (investigating magistrate) allowed Dutroux to repeatedly study his case files and alter his story, Dutroux case was his first assignment
• Stephane Goux (judge presiding over verdict)
• Judge Van Espen (was in charge of the murder investigation of Christine van Hees,

Prosecutors general

Anne Thily (final prosecutor)

Officers investigating

• Patriek De Baets (top officer of national gendarmerie, brought in by Conerottes)

Names of the victims

• Sylvie D., 11, abducted October 17th 1985, abducted and raped
• Maria V., 19, October 17th 1985, abducted and raped
• Catherine B., 18, 17th 1986, abducted and raped
• Elisabeth G., 15, December 18th 1985, abducted, raped, Dutroux took videos and pictures of her
• Axelle D., December 14th 1985, abducted and raped
• Melissa Russo, 8, 24th June 1995, died of starvation and dehydration, found in Sars-la-Buissiere
• Julie Lejeune, 8, 24th June 1995, died of starvation and dehydration, found in Sars-la-Buissiere
• An Marchal, 17, 23rd August 1995,, buried alive after being wrapped in plastic, found August 1996
• Eefje Lambrecks, 19, 23rd August 1995, buried alive after being wrapped in plastic, found August 1996
• Sabine Dardenne, 12, 28th May 1996, abducted, chained by neck for 79 days and raped repeatedly
• Laetitia Delhez, 14, 9th August 1996, abducted, raped

Accomplices

Initially Dutroux was charged with his wife Michelle Martin, his accomplice Lelièvre and Michel Nihoul.

Name of suspect	Profession	Charged with	Convicted of	Sentence	Release
Marc Dutroux	unemployed electrician, convicted child kidnapper and rapist	Murder (of An and Eefje as well as Bernard Weinstein), rape, kidnapping (of six girls), conspiracy, drug offenses	Murder (of An and Eefje as well as Bernard Weinstein), rape, kidnapping (of six girls), conspiracy, drug offenses	Life in prison	eligible for early release after 30 years in 2021
Michelle Martin	housewife	Kidnapping, murder of Julie and Melissa	Convicted of letting Julie and Melissa starve to death and assisting in the kidnappings	30 years imprisonment	Released under conditions in 2012 after serving 16 years out of 30
Michel Nihoul	businessman	Kidnapping, conspiracy, gang formation, document fraud, drug trafficking, car smuggling	Acquitted of kidnapping, document fraud, trading of stolen vehicles	5 years imprisonment	Was released early in May 2006 under conditions
Michael Lelièvre	drug addict and petty thief	Kidnapping, rape, murder	Kidnapping of An, Eefje, Sabine and Laetitia and rape	25 years imprisonment	Was released under conditions in October 2019

Assassination of Andre Cools

Alain van der Biest, a Belgian politician was arrested in 1996 in the unsolved assassination from 1991 of Andre Cools, a onetime deputy prime minister. The revelations in the Cools case coincided with the revelations in the Dutroux case and in total made the Belgian public loose trust in their government. Van der Biest was eventually convicted but had already been investigated five years prior as the one who ordered the contract hi on Cools. Due to failures in the investigation he wasn’t charged. It was found that several Belgian politicians had been bribed with large sums of money by an Italian helicopter manufacturer in exchange for military contracts. This included Belgian secretary general of NATO, Willy Claes. There were allegations that both the assassination of Andre Cools and the case surrounding Dutroux showed that organized crime had spread in Belgium and that the institutions weren’t efficient in combatting the spread or corruption and organized crime.