Marc Dutroux (born 6 November 1956 in Brussels) is a Belgian criminal, convicted of having, in 1995 and 1996, kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused six girls, ranging in age from 8 to 19, four of whom he murdered. He was also convicted of having killed a suspected former accomplice, Bernard Weinstein. He was arrested in 1996 and has been in prison since then. His widely publicised trial took place in 2004. A number of shortcomings in the Dutroux investigation caused widespread discontent in Belgium with the country's criminal justice system, and the ensuing scandal was one of the reasons for the reorganisation of Belgium's law enforcement agencies. is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other places with the same name, see Brussels (disambiguation). ... for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... Torture, according to international law, is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the concept of justice. ...

Before the kidnappings

Dutroux was the eldest of five children; his parents, both teachers, emigrated to the Belgian Congo and returned to Belgium in 1960. They separated in 1971 and Dutroux stayed with his mother but left at age 16, working briefly as a gigolo serving men. He married his first wife at the age of 19; they had two children. He divorced her in 1983. At this point, he already had an affair with Michelle Martin. The two would eventually have three children together; they married in 1989 while both were in prison. They divorced in 2003, again while in prison. Motto: Travail et Progres (Work and Progress) The Belgian Congo Capital Léopoldville/Leopoldstad Political structure Colony Governor  - 1908-1910 Baron Wahis  - 1946-1951 Eugène Jacques Pierre Louis Jungers  - 1958-1960 Henri Arthur Adolf Marie Christopher Cornelis History  - Established 15 November, 1908  - Congolese independence 30 June, 1960 The Belgian... A male prostitute (or hustler) is a sex worker or prostitute who earns money by providing sexual services to clients. ... For the record label, see Divorce Records. ...

An unemployed electrician, Dutroux had a long criminal history involving car theft, muggings and drug dealing. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... TVA electricians, Tennessee, 1942. ... Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared. ... For the 1967 film, see Robbery (film). ... These lollipops were found to contain heroin when inspected by the US DEA The illegal drug trade is a worldwide black market consisting of production, distribution, packaging and sale of illegal psychoactive substances. ...

In February 1986, Dutroux and Martin were arrested for abducting and raping five young girls. In April 1989 he was sentenced to thirteen and a half years in prison; Martin received a sentence of five years. Showing good behaviour in prison, he was released on parole in April 1992, after having served slightly more than three years. Upon releasing Dutroux, the parole board received a warning letter written by his own mother to the prison director. It has been suggested that Medical parole be merged into this article or section. ...

After his release, he was able to convince a psychiatrist that he was disabled, resulting in a government pension. He also received sleeping pills and sedatives from the doctor, which he would later use to quiet the abducted girls. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine dealing with the prevention, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of the mind and mental illness. ... Look up disability in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A sedative is a substance that depresses the central nervous system (CNS), resulting in calmness, relaxation, reduction of anxiety, sleepiness, and slowed breathing, as well as slurred speech, staggering gait, poor judgment, and slow, uncertain reflexes. ...

His criminal career, involving the trade of stolen cars to Czechoslovakia and Hungary; drug dealing and even violent crimes such as mugging gained him sufficient income to live in relative luxury in Charleroi, a city which had at the time high unemployment. He came to own seven houses, most of them vacant, and he used three of them to torture the girls he kidnapped. In his house in Marcinelle near Charleroi (Hainaut), where he lived most of the time, he started to construct a concealed dungeon in the basement. Hidden behind a massive concrete door disguised as a shelf, the cell was 2.15 metres (7 feet) long, less than a meter (3 feet) wide and 1.64 metres (5.38 feet) high. These lollipops were found to contain heroin when inspected by the US DEA The illegal drug trade is a worldwide black market consisting of production, distribution, packaging and sale of illegal psychoactive substances. ... For the 1967 film, see Robbery (film). ... Charleroi (Walloon: Tchålerwè) is the first city and municipality of Wallonia in population. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Torture, according to international law, is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has... Its when a man takes his penis and puts it in another mans mouth. ... Charleroi (Walloon: Tchålerwè) is the first city and municipality of Wallonia in population. ... Hainaut (French; English traditionally Hainault, Dutch: Henegouwen, German: Hennegau, Walloon: Hinnot) is the westernmost province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. ... The dungeons of Blarney Castle. ...

Abductions and arrest

Some of the following describes the events as alleged by the prosecution.

Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo (both age 8) were kidnapped together on June 24, 1995, probably by Dutroux, and imprisoned in Dutroux's cellar. Dutroux repeatedly sexually abused the girls and produced pornographic videos. is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Porn redirects here. ...

17-year-old An Marchal and 19-year-old Eefje Lambrecks were kidnapped on August 22, 1995 while on a camping trip in Ostend, probably by Dutroux and his drug-addicted accomplice Michel Lelièvre, who was being paid with drugs. Since the dungeon was already in use, Dutroux chained the girls to a bed in a room of his house. His wife was aware of all these activities. The prosecution alleged that Dutroux killed An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks several weeks later, but the exact circumstances of the murder are unknown. is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... The esplanade with the Thermae Palace, the former Royal Residence and the casino For other uses, see Ostend (disambiguation). ... Michel Lelievre is a criminal who helped Marc Dutroux abduct children and bringing them to Dutrouxs dungeon. ...

In late 1995, Dutroux came under investigation for his involvement in stolen luxury cars. He was in custody from December 6, 1995 until March 20, 1996. It is likely that Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo starved to death during this time. December 6 is the 340th day of the year (341st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about extreme malnutrition. ...

Sabine Dardenne was kidnapped and imprisoned in the dungeon on May 28, 1996 on her way to school, by Dutroux and his accomplice Michel Lelièvre. She was 12 at the time. On August 9, 1996, the two men kidnapped Laetitia Delhez (14) when she was walking home at night from a public swimming pool. A police investigation found an eye witness who could remember part of a license plate which matched Dutroux's. Dutroux, his wife Martin and Lelièvre were arrested on August 13, 1996. A search of his houses did not turn up anything. After two days, both Dutroux and Lelièvre confessed. Then Dutroux led investigators to the dungeon hidden in his basement. Sabine Dardenne and Laetitia Delhez were found alive there on August 15. Sabine Dardenne (born 1983) is a Belgian woman who, at the age of twelve, on May 28, 1996, was kidnapped by serial killer Marc Dutroux while on her way to school. ... May 28 is the 148th day of the year (149th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 221st day of the year (222nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article is about witnesses in law courts. ... // Introduction A license plate, number plate or registration plate (often referred to simply as a plate, or colloquially tag) is a small metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle for official identification purposes. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 227th day of the year (228th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

In an interview conducted several years later, Ms. Dardenne related that Dutroux told her that she was being kidnapped by a gang, that her parents did not want to pay, and that the gang therefore was planning to kill her. He presented himself as the "good guy" protecting her from the gang. He let her write letters to her family, most of which he read but never posted.

On August 17, Dutroux led police to another house of his, in Sars-la-Buissière (Hainaut). The bodies of Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo as well as Dutroux's supposed accomplice Bernard Weinstein were found in the garden. An autopsy found that the two girls died from starvation. Dutroux had crushed Weinstein's testicles until he revealed a money hiding place, then he drugged him and buried him alive. Dutroux told police that he had killed Weinstein because he had failed to feed the girls during Dutroux's time in custody. Finally, Dutroux told police where to find the bodies of An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks. They were located on September 3, 1996 in Jumet (Hainaut), buried under a shack next to a house owned by Dutroux. Weinstein had lived in that house for three years. is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Look up testes in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

Several hundred legally obtained commercial pornographic videos depicting adults were found in Dutroux's houses, along with a sizeable amount of pornographic videos Dutroux had produced of his wife Michelle Martin.

Shortcomings of the investigation, public outcry

Authorities were criticised for various aspects of the case. Perhaps most notably, police searched Dutroux's house on December 13, 1995 and again on December 19, 1995 in relation to his car theft charge. During this time, Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo were still alive in the basement dungeon, but they were not found. Since the search was unrelated to kidnapping charges, police searching the house had no dogs or specialised equipment that may have discovered the girls' presence. is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...

Several early hints as to Dutroux's intentions were not properly followed-up. Dutroux had offered money to a police informer for providing girls, and told him that he was constructing a cell in his basement. His mother also wrote a second letter to police, claiming that he held girls captive in his houses.

There was widespread anger and frustration among Belgians due to police errors and the general slowness of the investigation. This anger culminated when the popular investigative judge, in charge of the case was dismissed after having participated in a fund raising dinner by the girls' parents. His dismissal resulted in a massive protest march (the "White March") of 300,000 people on the capital, Brussels, in October 1996, two months after Dutroux's arrest, in which demands were made for reforms of Belgium's police and justice system. For other places with the same name, see Brussels (disambiguation). ...

On the witness stand, Jean-Marc Connerotte, the original judge of the case, broke down in tears when he described "the bullet-proof vehicles and armed guards needed to protect him against the shadowy figures determined to stop the full truth coming out. Never before in Belgium has an investigating judge at the service of the kind been subjected to such pressure. We were told by police that [murder] contracts had been taken out against the magistrates." Connerotte testified that the investigation was seriously hampered by protection of suspects by people in the government. "Rarely," he said, "has so much energy been spent opposing an inquiry." He believed that the mafia had taken control of the case.^[1]

A 17-month investigation by a parliamentary commission into the Dutroux affair produced a report in February 1998. The commission concluded that while Dutroux did not have accomplices in high positions of police and justice system, as he continued to claim, he profited from corruption, sloppiness and incompetence.

Public indignation flared up again in April 1998. While being transferred to a court house without handcuffs, Dutroux managed to overpower one of his guards, take his gun and escape. He was caught a few hours later. The Minister of Justice Stefaan De Clerck, the Minister of the Interior Johan Vande Lanotte, and the police chief resigned as a result. In 2000, Dutroux received a five-year sentence for threatening a police officer during his escape. In 2002, he received another five-year sentence for unrelated crimes. Stefaan De Clerck is Flemish politician. ... Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte (b. ...

The X-Dossiers

There was speculation that Dutroux was part of a widespread pedophile ring, including prominent Belgians. There were several reasons for these speculations, one of them being the many mistakes that had been made during the time that Dutroux was under observation by the police. Other reasons were the occasional statements from Dutroux about just being a "pawn" in a much larger network, the political connections of Nihoul, or the allegations of pedophilia against politicians Elio Di Rupo and Jean-Pierre Grafe in late 1996. The fact that the parents of Julie, Melissa and An continually voiced their dissatisfaction with the investigation also added to specialions of a cover up. Pedophilia, paedophilia, or pædophilia (see spelling differences), is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to pre-pubescent children. ...

However, maybe the most important reason for rumors about high-level pedophilia networks were the so-called X-Dossiers, which first came to the public's attention in late 1996 and early 1997. It turned out that in the aftermath of Dutroux's arrest (some had contacted the police before), more than half a dozen purported victims of pedophiliac rings had begun to testify in Neufchateau. Their testimonies have always been extremely sensitive, because besides individuals as Dutroux and Nihoul, many well known Belgians were also accused of pedophilia, including members of the royal family, top politicians, and some of the country's leading bankers. Several of the most important names came up in different testimonies. However, the investigations into these testimonies were ultimately all shut down after senior police officers and Justice department officials ruled they were not reliable, leaving the case wide open to speculation that they were yielding under the weight of powerful individual and institutional interests.

Over the years, several books have been published that make the case that the decisions to shut down the X-investigations were unjustified. The newspaper De Morgen and Humo magazine have been saying the same thing, although they are bitterly opposed by most of the other major media outlets.

The trial

Dutroux's trial began on March 1, 2004, some seven and a half years after his initial arrest. It was a trial by jury and up to 450 people were called upon to testify. The trial took place in Arlon, the capital of the Belgian province of Luxembourg, where investigations had started. Dutroux was tried for the murder of An Marchal, Eefje Lambrecks and Bernard Weinstein, a suspected accomplice. While admitting the abductions, he denied all three killings, although he had earlier confessed to the killing of Weinstein. Dutroux was also charged with a host of other crimes: auto theft, abduction, attempted murder and attempted abduction, molestation, and three unrelated rapes of women from Slovakia. is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Jury. ... St Martin church, Arlon Arlon (Dutch: Aarlen, German: Arel) is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Luxembourg, of which it is the capital. ... Luxembourg is the southernmost province of Wallonia and of Belgium. ...

Martin was tried as an accomplice, as were Michel Lelièvre and Michel Nihoul. To protect the accused, they were made to sit in a glass cage during the trial. In the first week of the trial, photos of Dutroux's face were not allowed to be printed in Belgian newspapers, for privacy reasons. Throughout the trial, Dutroux continued to insist that he was part of a Europe-wide pedophile ring with accomplices amongst police officers, businessmen, doctors, and even high-level Belgian politicians.

In a rare move, the jury at the assize trial publicly protested the presiding judge Stéphane Goux's handling of the debates and perceived rushing of the victims' testimonies. For jury meaning makeshift, see jury rig. ... The Courts of Assize, or Assizes, is the name of criminal courts in several countries. ...

On June 14, 2004, after three months of trial, the jury went into seclusion to reach their verdicts on Dutroux and the three other accused, which were returned on June 17 after three days of deliberation. Dutroux, Martin and Lelièvre were found guilty on all charges, while the jury couldn't reach a verdict on Nihoul's role. is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 168th day of the year (169th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Nihoul was later acquitted from the charge of being an offender on kidnapping and murder of the girls by the court. The jury was asked to go back into seclusion to give answer to the question whether Nihoul was an accomplice or not.

Sentencing

On June 22 Dutroux received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while Martin received 30 years and Lelièvre 25 years. Although Nihoul was acquitted of kidnapping and conspiracy charges, he was convicted on drug related charges and received 5 years. is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, nominally for the entire remaining life of the prisoner, but in fact for a period which varies between jurisdictions: many countries have a maximum possible period of time (usually 50 years) a prisoner may be incarcerated, or require the...

The Dutroux case is now considered so evil and infamous that more than a third of Belgians with the surname "Dutroux" applied to have their name changed between 1996 and the trial.

See also

• Child Focus
• Michel Nihoul
• Michel Lelièvre
• Michel Fourniret
• Belgian political scandals
• Outreau trial (France, 2004-2005; another juridical scandal)

Child Focus is the common name of the European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children. ... Michel Nihoul (April 23, 1941 in Verviers) is a Belgian convicted of drug traffic and pedophilia. ... Michel Lelievre is a criminal who helped Marc Dutroux abduct children and bringing them to Dutrouxs dungeon. ... Michel Fourniret (born 4 April 1942) is a French serial killer who confessed, in June and July 2004, to kidnapping, raping and murdering 9 girls in the span of 14 years during the 1980s and the 1990s. ... This is a list of political scandals in Belgium: Guy Jespers affair (end 1970s) KS affair (end 1980s) Albert Canal pipeline affair (1990s) Superclub affair (1990s) Cools assassination (1991) Agusta scandal (scandal broke early 1990s) Aralco affair (early 1990s) OMOB affair (early 1990s) UNIOP affair (early 1990s) Hormone affair (1990s... The Outreau trial was a miscarriage of justice in France. ...

Footnotes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 271st day of the year (272nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• The official indictment
• BBC News on Sabine Dardenne
• BBC News Profile: Marc Dutroux
• Dutroux at CrimeLibrary
• United Nations High Commission on Human Rights report critizing changes in the Belgian Constitution due to the case

Alternative views

• Beyond the Dutroux Affair by Project for the Exposure of Hidden Institutions

A conspiracy article, no doubt, but it's very well sourced and likely the most detailed, freely available article on the Dutroux case. It features the work of all the authors who are skeptical of the Dutroux investigation.