the case dutroux
In Belgium there is a division between so called "believers" and "non believers". People who think, yes, there is organized crime involving child abuse behind the Dutroux case or the official version, that Dutroux is only an isolated pervert.
The Belgium journalist Michel Bouffioux (second from left) received a phone call from the mother of Melissa, shortly after the disappearance of her child, when the parents realized, that officials put little interest in investigating the case. Since this day, in July 1995 Michel Bouffioux followed the case, collected evidence and wrote countless articles on the "dysfunctions" of the Belgium police and judiciary system.
Bouffioux doesn't refer to the terms of "believers" and "non believers", because it states, that there is no truth behind and no evidence pointing to this truth. But he is convinced that this is a case to be solved and that it's not about believing but about facts versus truth and lies.
The documentary presents a chronology of the events from the disappearance of Julie, Melissa, An, Eefje, Sabine and Laetitia until the arrest of Marc Dutroux - 14 month after Julie and Melissa were abducted and beyond that period until now, the start of the judiciary process against Dutroux and three other people involved.
Michel Bouffioux presents shocking details of the 14-month failing investigations: a month after the disappearance of the first two girls, investigators in Charleroi put Dutroux on top of the list of suspects. But nothing happened. In spite of being stopped, he continued his diverse criminal activities, sometimes with the support of some police personal.
Because of child abuse, Dutroux was sentenced to 13 years in the 80s, but after only three years in jail liberated on probation by the Belgium minister of justice then - Mr. Wathelet. Back in Charleroi he continued his pervert activities and different informants testified, that he was planning to abduct children to sell them to clients and send them to other countries. He offered some of his neighbors money to join these activities. After the disappearance of the girls, the mother of Dutroux writes a letter to the local investigators, that the neighbors observed strange activities in some of his houses and watched how he brought in some girls. There were several letters from a recently jailed paedophile who claimed to have seen a picture of Melissa in a Café just a mile from Dutroux house, offered by some child-trader. All these elements have never been used to find the author of these crimes - Dutroux.
After 14 month - finally - a team of investigators from the Belgium south - Neufchateau, close to the border to Luxembourg, managed to catch Dutroux. And they proved to be so successful, that they even started to solve cases of disappeared children many years back, like the one of little Loubna, a young girl of Moroccan immigrants in Bruxelles.
When the team of the attorney of state Bourlet and the judge of investigation Connerotte were starting to target the criminal organisation behind Dutroux, pressure was build up by very powerful people. Connerotte had to resign from his job as chief investigator of the case. And Bourlet admitted, that he could only succeed if "they" would let him do.
Whoever "they" were, they managed to stop Bourlet and Co. of getting any further. Today there are only four people accused by the court in Arlon of their involvement of the abductions in 6 and murder in 4 cases. Marc Dutroux as the prime suspect, his wife Michelle Martin, the drug addict Michel Lelièvre and the real estate agent Jean-Michel Nihoul from Bruxelles.
It is obvious, that if there is any network, it would go far beyond these four. The businessman Nihoul with close ties to both power and the demi-monde in Belgium is considered as the tie between the perverted rich customers and the executers like Dutroux and Lelièvre. But as evidence has not been produced throughout all these years, here the speculation starts.
The documentary doesn't want to take part in any of these speculations. Instead it presents the scandalous record of the investigations during the last 7 years.
The authorities' official line is maintained that Dutroux, the lone paedophile, kidnapped the girls for his personal use and kept them in the cage in his cellar. At the same time, Judge Langlois, Connerotte's replacement, refused to have tested the DNA samples found with the dead bodies. He refused even to believe the evidence of the rape of the two little girls who were found dead, even though the autopsy by the specialists proves that. As the process is prepared, Dutroux lawyer, Maitre Xavier Magnée (picture on the right) is quite optimistic, that he will be able to defend his client successfully. But an outcome of Dutroux not being found 100 percent guilty by the jury would create a big outcry in the Belgium population.
"The Case Dutroux" is the effort to present an accurate chronology of the past 8 years, including the main dysfunctions and scandalous ignorance of the investigation. It doesn't pretend to answer the questions, it doesn't go for "believers" or "non believers". Instead it claims, that if people look closely at the evidence presented, they will be able to draw their own conclusions.
See also: Silent Screems, Belgium 2001
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