Misplaced Pages

#782217

86-569: Elio Di Rupo ( French: [eljo di ʁupo] ; born 18 July 1951) is a Belgian politician who has served as the minister-president of Wallonia since 2019. He is affiliated with the Socialist Party . Di Rupo previously served as the prime minister of Belgium from 6 December 2011 to 11 October 2014, heading the Di Rupo Government . He was the first francophone to hold the office since Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1979, and

172-550: A Charleroi skating rink and got into a physical altercation with another patron, Armand de Beyn, after repeatedly colliding with De Beyn's girlfriend. A court case ended with De Beyn being convicted of assault and battery against Dutroux, although Dutroux was banned from the Charleroi skating rink. One of his mistresses was Michelle Martin, whom he later married and with whom he had three more children. On 14 December 1985, Dutroux abducted Axelle D. During her testimony, she told

258-568: A break, Dutroux overpowered the other officer and was able to escape. He was captured 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. There were countless hairs found in

344-531: A corruption scandal, involving several members of Di Rupo's party. He continued as party leader though and has had to deal with the PS's ICDI affair that emerged in May 2006. In 2006 and 2007, Di Rupo and his party appeared unsuccessful in trying to clean out corruption. This was probably instrumental in the party's losing its first place amongst French community parties 2007 federal election . Di Rupo then decided to take

430-807: A firmer stance against corruption in Charleroi: he virtually took control of the city's Socialist Party and ordered the Socialist mayor and aldermen to resign. After former PS president Guy Spitaels urged him to choose between the presidency of the party and of the Walloon Government , Di Rupo decided to organise internal elections for party president in July 2007 rather than in October of that year and announced that he would resign from his mandate as Minister-President if re-elected. On 11 July 2007, he

516-426: 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

602-467: 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; this ban remained in force until 9 March. In a rare move, the jury at the assizes trial publicly protested the presiding judge Stéphane Goux's handling of the debates and the victims' testimonies. On 14 June 2004, after three months of trial,

688-405: A government, believed to be the longest such streak ever for a country in the developed world. Yves Leterme had resigned on 26 April 2010 and had been serving as caretaker prime minister since then. Between 2004 and 2005, Elio Di Rupo was on the board of directors of what was then Dexia bank, currently Belfius . Di Rupo describes himself as an " atheist , rationalist , and Freemason ." He

774-411: A health professional that he was disabled due to mental illnesses. That way, he was able to collect public assistance consisting of $ 1,200 a month from the Belgian government. He also convinced the professionals that he needed sedatives for sleeping problems. Dutroux later went on to use them to sedate his victims. He owned seven small houses, most of them vacant, and used three of them for the torture of

860-451: A hiding place to spare them from being sent to a prostitution ring. " Dutroux admitted to raping Lambrecks. He said that Weinstein had raped Marchal. He also admitted to drugging both of them. Dutroux also admitted that he kidnapped Sabine Dardenne and raped her. He admitted to kidnapping and raping Laetitia Delhez but not handing them over to Nihoul "to spare them the fate of An and Eefje." Dutroux's lawyer, Xavier Magnee, repeatedly said that

946-400: A lawyer, but also as a citizen and father. He was not the only devil. Out of the 6000 hair samples that were found in the basement cellar where some of the victims were held, 25 "unknown" DNA profiles were discovered. There were people in that cellar that are not now accused." The prosecution never attempted to match those DNA profiles to people implicated in the case. Focus was also placed on

SECTION 10

#1732773175783

1032-427: A lot of information about himself in conversations with the girls, which had been enough for police to identify him. The three were eventually convicted on 26 April 1989. Dutroux received 13 1 ⁄ 2 years. Peteghem received 6 1 ⁄ 2 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

1118-505: A neighbour, who called the police. With Weinstein wanted by police, Dutroux decided to kill him to prevent his capture. He kidnapped Weinstein and held him in the dungeon at his house in Marcinelle between 13 and 20 November. During this time, he let Lejeune and 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

1204-560: A parliamentary commission into the Dutroux affair produced a report in February 1998, which concluded that while Dutroux did not have accomplices in high positions in the police and justice systems, as he continued to claim, he profited from corruption , sloppiness and incompetence. Marc Verwilghen , the chairman of the inquiry sharply criticized every aspect of the investigation. In October 1996, more than 300,000 Belgians marched through

1290-428: A senior figure lie so brazenly?" 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. Eventually several families of victims boycotted the official trial, stating that it

1376-613: A stumbling block in seeking that office; every prime minister since 1979 had been a Fleming . In May 2011, he was appointed Formateur by King Albert II , which gave Di Rupo the task of forming a government. Traditionally, the Formateur also becomes the Prime Minister of the government he forms. He became prime minister of the Di Rupo I Government on 6 December 2011. With Di Rupo's appointment, Belgium ended 589 days without

1462-480: A surname change. Belief in a paedophile network which included high-ranking members of the Belgian establishment and a conspiracy to keep it hidden became widespread in Belgium. Press reports claimed that, prior to his removal, Connerotte was on the verge of publicly disclosing the names of high-level government officials who had been recognized on video-tapes. Connerotte had said that the businessman Michel Nihoul

1548-522: Is fluent in Italian , French and English . After becoming Prime Minister, he took Dutch lessons to address his previous limited fluency in the language and this improved enough for him to be able to address the parliament in Dutch and conduct TV interviews in the language. Di Rupo came out as gay in 1996, and when asked by a confrontational "media pack" if he was gay, he responded, "Yes. So what?" He

1634-459: Is the first openly gay man to lead a sovereign state, and the first openly gay person to win the position through an election. Between Di Rupo's election and 2013, he was one of the only three openly gay or lesbian national heads of government , the other ones being Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir , and Luxembourgish Prime Minister Xavier Bettel . Source: Minister-president of Wallonia The official residence, known as

1720-599: The Belgian Chamber of Representatives . He once described François Mitterrand as being "a character from a novel". In 2000, he became the mayor of Mons , which is the capital of the province of Hainaut . In 1987, he got his national political breakthrough. He was elected as member of the Chamber of Deputies and went two years later for a short time to the European Parliament . In 1991, Di Rupo

1806-709: The White March held on 20 October 1996, 300,000 Belgian citizens protested the mishandling of the case. Marc Dutroux was born in Ixelles , Brussels , on 6 November 1956 to Victor Dutroux and Jeanine Lauwens. He is the eldest of five children. Dutroux spent part of his early childhood in Burundi , then part of the Belgian Congo , where his father worked as a teacher. After Burundi gained independence in mid-1962, Dutroux's family moved back to Belgium and settled in

SECTION 20

#1732773175783

1892-543: The abduction and rape of five young girls in 1989, Dutroux was released on parole after just three years' imprisonment. He was arrested again in 1996 on suspicion of having abducted, tortured , and sexually abused six girls aged between 8 and 19, four of whom were killed. Dutroux's widely publicized trial ended with his conviction on all charges in 2004; he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment . Dutroux's accomplices included his wife, Michelle Martin; Michel Lelièvre; Michel Nihoul; and Bernard Weinstein. Martin

1978-662: The Élysette , is in Namur , along the Meuse River. The minister-president should not be confused with the minister-president of the French Community of Belgium, which is currently led by Élisabeth Degryse . 240 days 2 days 6 days Marc Dutroux Marc Paul Alain Dutroux ( French pronunciation: [maʁk pɔl alɛ̃ dytʁu] ; born 6 November 1956) is a Belgian convicted serial killer , serial rapist , and child molester . Initially convicted for

2064-449: The BBC. In 2004 at the end of the Dutroux case trial he was released of all charges of child abduction. In May 2010 the Belgian prosecutor's office dropped all charges against Nihoul relating to participation in a paedophile ring in the absence of any tangible evidence. The Dutroux case is so infamous that between 1996 and 1998 over a third of Belgians with the surname "Dutroux" applied for

2150-464: The Judicial Police: most notably one from an informer that named Dutroux as a suspect and even described a hidden space that Dutroux had constructed in the basement of one of the houses he owned. 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

2236-488: The PS lost many of its votes, partly because of corruption scandals in the 1990s (named Agusta-scandal and UNIOP-affair), in which the most prominent PS-politicians were involved. PS had been in the government subsequently since 1988 (in the regional government and in the federal government), but the liberal PRL (now MR ) became in the 1999-elections as strong as the PS. Apart from those two, Ecolo also became an important political party. Di Rupo realised that drastic action

2322-595: The World titled "Monster of Belgium" (Season 2, Episode 9, April 2009) was aired later on by Discovery Channel , bringing North American attention to the Belgium case. Dutroux's trial began on 1 March 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

2408-413: The abducted girls. Both the transfers and the value of the six properties that Dutroux owned suggested to investigators that he was financed by a larger paedophile and prostitution ring. The Flemish newspaper Nieuwsblad reported that he had committed health-insurance fund fraud, theft, insurance fraud and investments on the stock market and that these had contributed to his wealth. An undated letter

2494-401: The 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 built the dungeon in which Marchal and Lambrecks were held for a while. He said: " I wanted to create

2580-517: 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 granted by Melchior Wathelet , who was at that time the Belgian minister of justice; Dutroux's release was ordered against the advice of both the public prosecutor and the psychiatrist who had examined him in prison, who stated that Dutroux remained extremely dangerous. While in jail, Dutroux managed to convince

2666-464: The case of Lejeune and Russo, Dutroux also claimed that he had "protected them from a powerful and sinister child sex ring." His testimony that he never raped Lejeune and Russo was somewhat supported by examinations by psychiatrists in 1996, which stated that Dutroux did not fit the paedophile profile. He was not attracted to children, but he might have chosen to abduct younger victims because they were easier to manipulate and control. Dutroux admitted to

Elio Di Rupo - Misplaced Pages Continue

2752-412: The conspiracy narrative. Michel Lelièvre, the accomplice of Marc Dutroux, said that the two girls, Lejeune and Russo, were kidnapped as an order by a third party. However, while under arrest, Lelièvre stopped cooperating with the authorities. He told police that he had been threatened and could not risk saying any more. Dutroux's lawyer, Xavier Magnee, said during the trial proceedings "I speak not only as

2838-602: The country's first socialist prime minister since Edmond Leburton left office in 1974. Di Rupo was also Belgium's first prime minister of non-Belgian descent, and the world's second openly gay person and first openly gay man to be head of government in modern times. Di Rupo was born in Morlanwelz , Wallonia , to Italian parents. His father was born in San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore . While Di Rupo

2924-484: The court in Brussels for an early release from prison. He insisted that he was "no longer dangerous" and wanted to be released into house arrest with an electronic tag ( ankle bracelet ) placed upon him. On 18 February, the court denied his request. Dutroux is currently being held in solitary confinement in the prison of Nivelles . In October 2019, Dutroux won the pre-parole right to a psychiatric assessment, which

3010-457: The current reformist government of Guy Verhofstadt and Belgium's very reputation as a normal civilised country is on the line." The crimes of Marc Dutroux were covered in multiple nonfiction documentaries, one of the earliest being a British public-access TV documentary titled Witness: The Lost Children ( Channel 4 , 1999, directed by Helen Hill), which was narrated by Stephen Rashbrook and featured interviews with multiple family members of

3096-558: The dungeon each time they ran out. Martin neglected to feed them, later claiming she was too afraid to go into the dungeon. Lejeune and Russo eventually starved to death. Dutroux initially stated that they were still alive when he returned home following his release from prison on 20 March 1996; according to him, Lejeune died that day, and Russo followed suit four days later despite his efforts to save her; during his trial, he said they were already dead when he returned from prison. An expert asserted that they would not have been able to survive

3182-597: The dungeon he had created, repeatedly sexually abused them and produced child pornography videos of the abuse. Two months later, in the early hours of 23 August in Ostend , Dutroux and accomplice Michel Lelièvre kidnapped An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks, two teenage girls from Hasselt who were on their way back to their holiday home in Westende following a night out in Blankenberge . With Lejeune and Russo already in

3268-486: The dungeon where the two girls were held. 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 besides Dutroux were involved. The general prosecutor of the case, Anne Thily told investigative journalist Olenka Frenkiel that all hairs had been tested, though Frenkiel claimed to have heard from sources saying otherwise, writing, "How can such

3354-409: The dungeon, Lambrecks and Marchal were kept in chains in a bedroom. In September, according to Martin, Lambrecks and Marchal were drugged and brought to Jumet , where Dutroux and accomplice Bernard Weinstein killed them by burying them alive. Around the time of Lambrecks's and 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

3440-565: The elections in 1995, he remained the Vice-Prime Minister of Belgium and was appointed minister of Economics and Telecommunications. In 1995 he signed the merger of the Belgian airline Sabena with Swiss Air that eventually led to the bankruptcy of Sabena with thousands of unemployed employees as result. In 1996, at the time of the Dutroux affair , Olivier Trusgnach, a prostitute, alleged that Di Rupo paid him for sex while Trusgnach

3526-586: The end of his high school years. This led him to pursue a degree in chemistry at the University of Mons , where he eventually obtained a PhD in Chemistry, after being a part-time lecturer at Leeds University as well. Di Rupo came in contact with the socialist movement for the first time during his studies in Mons , where he first obtained a master's degree and afterwards a PhD in chemistry . He went during

Elio Di Rupo - Misplaced Pages Continue

3612-534: The entire time Dutroux was in prison on the total amount of food and water they were said to have been given. Dutroux buried Lejeune and Russo's bodies in the garden of the house he owned in Sars-la-Buissière, near to that of Weinstein. On the morning of 28 May 1996, Dutroux and Lelièvre kidnapped 12-year-old Sabine Dardenne , who was cycling to school in Tournai . In a book originally published under

3698-560: The first proven abduction by the two took place, the abduction of eleven-year-old Sylvie D. On 17 October 1985 the pair abducted Maria V., 19, from Peronnes-lez-Binche . Maria V. also identified a third man who took part in her abduction and appeared to be in his fifties. This man was never found by police. On 17 January 1986, Catherine B., aged 18, was abducted from Obaix in Hainaut Province . Dutroux had one or two accomplices in her abduction who were never found by police. Peteghem

3784-636: The girls he kidnapped. Although he owned several houses, his state assistance stipend was not reduced. In his residence in Marcinelle , he constructed a concealed dungeon in the basement. Dutroux has been described by psychiatrists who examined him for trial as a psychopath . On 24 June 1995, eight-year-old classmates Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo were kidnapped after going for a walk in Grâce-Hollogne , probably by Dutroux, and brought to his house in Marcinelle . Dutroux kept them imprisoned in

3870-541: The girls were subsequently rescued. On 17 August 1996, Dutroux led police to his house in Sars-la-Buissière and, with his help, they were able to locate and exhume the bodies of Lejeune, Russo and Weinstein. On 3 September, the remains of Marchal and Lambrecks were located and exhumed in Jumet . Hundreds of commercial adult pornographic videos, along with a large number of home-made sex films that Dutroux had made with Martin, were recovered from his properties. Heavy criticism

3956-662: 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 Rochow's 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

4042-435: The investigations had started. Dutroux was tried for the murders of An Marchal, Eefje Lambrecks and Bernard 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 . Martin was tried as an accomplice, as were Lelièvre and Michel Nihoul . To protect the accused, they were made to sit in

4128-404: 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 onto 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

4214-401: The jury went into seclusion to reach their verdicts on Dutroux and the three other accused. Verdicts were returned on 17 June 2004 after three days of deliberation. Dutroux, Martin and Lelièvre were found guilty on all charges; the jury were unable to reach a verdict on Nihoul's role. Dutroux claimed that he was a low dog in a powerful pedophile network . He further claimed that Michel Nihoul

4300-471: The material wealth of Dutroux, who owned ten houses. He was in total worth 6 million Belgian francs ( US$ 130,000). While he had all of this wealth in property he also received public assistance of $ 1,200 a month. Documents released by WikiLeaks show that large sums of money in different currencies arrived in Michelle Martin's bank account, and claimed to be linked in time to the disappearances of

4386-453: The new cells he was creating. Several videotapes found during the search were never looked at. Some of them showed Dutroux constructing the dungeon in which Lejeune and Russo were held. Michel Bourlet, who was appointed lead investigator, said that some of the videotapes had disappeared and that he wanted to have them all recovered and reviewed. The officer conducting the search was later promoted. In October 1996, judge Jean-Marc Connerotte

SECTION 50

#1732773175783

4472-547: The police that Dutroux's accomplice Peteghem had told her that "he was part of a gang" led by two gang leaders, "an Italian and a crazy stupid one." Jean van Peteghem admitted to having taken part in the abduction. He said he had abducted Axelle D. with Marc Dutroux and Michelle Martin. He had lived with Dutroux after being discharged from the military and having his marriage fail. Peteghem told police that his and Dutroux's first victims were two girls from Morlanwelz . These two victims were never located by police. On 7 June 1985,

4558-464: The preparation of his doctorate to the University of Leeds (United Kingdom), where his function was that of lecture member of staff in 1977–1978. He started his political career as an attaché at the cabinet of Jean-Maurice Dehousse in 1980–81. His first political mandate came in 1982, when he was Councillor of Mons (until 1985, and again from 1988 until 2000). In 1986, he was mayor of health, urban renewal and social affairs. Professionally, Di Rupo

4644-413: The prosecution never followed up on evidence of a network surrounding Dutroux. Martin testified that Dutroux and Weinstein kidnapped Lejeune and Russo. She also said that Dutroux had told her that he had murdered Weinstein. Martin further said that Dutroux and Weinstein had killed Marchal and Lambrecks. She further testified that Lejeune and Russo starved to death in their basement in 1996 while Dutroux

4730-419: The prospect of a conditional release of Dutroux, a "Black March" was organised on the 23rd anniversary of the " White March ". The calls to take part in the march were made after it was made public that a court had approved the request for conditional release of Michel Lelièvre, who was an accomplice of Dutroux and had received a 25-year sentence. The Guardian reported in 2004 that "the entire credibility of

4816-756: The regional elections of 2004, it also became the most important party in the Brussels capital region. Di Rupo changed, in 2004, the liberal coalition partner for the Christian-democratic party, in the Walloon Government and in the Brussels Capital Government (in the last also the green party Ecolo was part of the government). By doing this, coalitions were made which differed from the federal coalition at that time. In October 2005, he became Minister-President of Wallonia after Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe resigned amid

4902-436: The search for Lejeune and Russo, police visited Dutroux's house, where Lejeune and Russo were held, twice, on 13 and 19 December 1995 without finding them. During the course of the searches, girls' voices were heard while searching the cellar, but police did not follow up to find the source of the voices. Detectives accepted Dutroux's claim that the ongoing construction in his house was for a new drainage system, rather than for

4988-424: The streets of Brussels after 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 ". Protesters were wearing signs that said "Stop the cover-up". To protest

5074-477: The title J'avais 12 ans, j'ai pris mon vélo et je suis partie à l'école (and published in the United Kingdom under the title I Choose to Live ), Dardenne described her time in captivity in Dutroux's Marcinelle home, where she spent most of the time imprisoned in the dungeon and was starved and repeatedly raped by Dutroux. On 9 August 1996, Dutroux and Lelièvre kidnapped 14-year-old Laëtitia Delhez as she

5160-444: The victims, as well as with Claude Thirault, a next-door neighbour of Dutroux's who had later become a police informant after raising personal suspicions about Dutroux's activities, which had included watching small children from the street, and also being caught digging up under water tanks in an old basement, creating a space where Thirault claimed that Dutroux had planned to use for hiding children in. An episode of Crimes That Shook

5246-407: The village of Obaix in Hainaut Province . Dutroux later reported to have been abused by his mother and father. In 1972, Dutroux's parents separated and his father left the family home. Shortly after graduating from school, Dutroux left home himself and made his living as an electrician . Several years later, in 1976, Dutroux married Françoise Dubois, with whom he had two children. The marriage

SECTION 60

#1732773175783

5332-488: Was acquitted of kidnapping and conspiracy charges, he was convicted on drug-related charges and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Nihoul was released in the spring of 2006. He resided in Zeebrugge until his death on 23 October 2019. On 19 August 2012, about 2,000 people in Brussels demonstrated against Martin's possible early release from prison. She has since been paroled , 16 years into her sentence, and

5418-533: Was a circus and there had been no progress in the case since the removal of judge Connerotte. The investigation was also complicated by rivalry between different law enforcement bodies. Both the Gendarmerie and the Judicial Police carried out their own investigations, and both groups wanted to be the first to solve the case. In particular, the Gendarmerie refused to share tip-offs and information with

5504-687: 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 . 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." A 17-month inquiry by

5590-530: Was at the same time cabinet member and then Deputy Head of Cabinet of the minister of finance of that time of the Walloon region and consequently Deputy Head of Cabinet of the minister of finance and energy of the Walloon region at that time Philippe Busquin (1981–85) and superintendent of the energy-inspection of the ministry of the Walloon region. He is a deputy (MP) for the Arrondissement of Mons in

5676-503: Was born in Belgium, his brothers and sisters were all born in Italy. When he was one year old, his father died in a car crash and his mother was unable to raise all seven children. Due to the poor financial state of his family, three of his brothers were raised in a nearby orphanage. When he was 12, he attended boarding school. Due to medical issues, Di Rupo had to re-do his first year of high school twice, but eventually excelled in science at

5762-588: Was chosen as a senator, but shortly afterwards (1992), he took in the French-speaking community his first ministerial function in Education and later also Media. These were his responsibilities until Guy Coëme , who was mentioned in the Agusta-scandal , resigned and Di Rupo went to the federal government in 1994 as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Traffic and Governmental companies. Following

5848-403: Was convicted and sentenced to thirty years in prison, while Lelièvre was sentenced to twenty-five years. Nihoul, "a Brussels businessman, pub -owner and familiar face at sex parties," was initially tried as an accomplice to the kidnappings but was acquitted owing to insufficient evidence; he was instead convicted of involvement in a gang that participated in human and drug trafficking , and

5934-517: Was found in a house belonging to Bernard Weinstein, mentioning a gift for the "high priestress". The note was signed "Anubis". A member of the Abraxas cult in Charleroi used the same alias, leading police to conduct a raid on the cult headquarters by 150 officers, taking away much of the cult's paraphernalia. No connection to Dutroux was uncovered in the raid, and no evidence that Weinstein had been

6020-529: Was hidden. Dutroux then buried Weinstein alive on his (Dutroux's) property in Sars-la-Buissière . On 6 December 1995, Dutroux, having been recognised by Rochow, was arrested for vehicle theft. According to Dutroux and Martin, Lejeune and Russo were still alive in the house at the time of Dutroux's arrest in December 1995, and Dutroux had ordered Martin to leave new food and water for the girls in

6106-452: Was in 1918. However, the majority of Belgians, at the time of the trial, would have had no problem with Dutroux receiving the death penalty. On 22 June 2004, Dutroux received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment , while Martin received 30 years and Lelièvre 25 years. The jury was asked to go back into seclusion to decide whether or not Nihoul was an accomplice. On 23 June, Dutroux lodged an appeal against his sentence. Although Nihoul

6192-501: Was in charge of the function of minister-president of the Walloon region, but already in October of the same year the members of the party chose him as president and in April 2000, he was succeeded in his function of minister-president by Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe . As new president of the party, Di Rupo was forced to make a generation change within the PS and go down a new path. During the regional and federal elections of 1995 and 1999,

6278-448: Was in jail. She claims that she was too scared to descend to 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 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. The death penalty was abolished in Belgium in 1996. The last execution for common-law crimes

6364-467: Was levelled against the police for their handling of the case. In 1995, Dutroux's mother wrote a letter to the authorities stating that she knew that Dutroux had kidnapped two girls and was keeping them at his house. After Lejeune and Russo were kidnapped in June 1995, it took police 14 months to arrest Dutroux, although he had been a prime suspect from the start, having committed similar crimes before. During

6450-642: Was marred by Dutroux's abusive behaviour towards his family; the couple would divorce in 1983, with Françoise keeping custody of the children. During the late 1970s, Dutroux found new employment as a scrap dealer and supplemented his income by stealing car parts. From 1979 onward he would be convicted for a variety of petty offences including assault , drug dealing , and trading stolen vehicles . Meanwhile, he regularly visited ice skating rinks in Charleroi , Forest , and Montignies-sur-Sambre , where he would deliberately trip or bump into young female skaters in order to touch them. In October 1980, Dutroux visited

6536-552: Was re-elected president of the Socialist Party with 89.5% of the votes. Following the 2010 Belgian general election , in which the PS emerged as the largest of the Francophone parties and the second largest political party in Belgium, speculation emerged as to whether Di Rupo could be the Prime Minister in a new government . The RTBF raised questions, however, about whether Di Rupo's limited fluency in Dutch would be

6622-620: Was released into the care of the Poor Clares in Malonne . She was given shelter, although she was not part of the community. The sisters have declared that they were not her guardian and shelter was given under the condition that she would not violate the conditions of her parole. As the convent has since been sold, she has had to find new shelter or go back to prison. A former judge has created an apartment in his converted farmhouse, where she now lives. On 4 February 2013, Dutroux requested

6708-469: Was removed from the investigation by the Supreme Court due to concerns about his impartiality after he attended a fund-raising dinner for the victims' families. Another judge, Jean-Claude Van Espen, resigned after his close relationship with Michel Nihoul came to light. On 23 April 1998, Dutroux was allowed to view his case files. He was accompanied by two police officers. When one officer went on

6794-493: Was required to regain the position of the PS. By several measures, such as "Contrat d'avenir pour la Wallonie" (Contract for the Future of Wallonia) and a new generation of party leaders, by which Marie Arena was important, he tried to reassemble the left wing-forces around him. Successfully, because in the elections of 2003, PS regained the electoral score of 1991 and was by far the most important political party before MR . During

6880-443: Was sentenced to five years in prison. Weinstein was never tried as he was murdered by Dutroux before being identified as an accomplice. The lenient result of Dutroux's first prosecution , as well as shortcomings on the part of the police in investigating his murders, caused widespread discontent in Belgium with the country's criminal justice system , resulting in the complete reorganisation of Belgium's law enforcement agencies . In

6966-527: Was stationed as army personnel in Germany during that time and could not have assisted Dutroux. On 18 December 1985, Dutroux abducted Élisabeth G., 15, in Pont-à-Celles . Peteghem told police that Dutroux filmed Élisabeth naked and took pictures of her. At the beginning of February 1986, Martin, Dutroux and Peteghem were arrested. This had to a large extent been the fault of Peteghem, who had given out

7052-648: Was still a minor. This accusation could have meant the end of his political career. Di Rupo denied the accusations. After the federal and regional elections of June 1999 in which, due to the Dioxin Affair , the Christian-Democrats lost many of their votes, Di Rupo negotiated with the Flemish socialists of sp.a , the Liberals and Green Party to form a "purple-green" government. Di Rupo himself

7138-471: Was supposed to take place in May 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Michel Nihoul was a businessman known to frequently attend sex parties. He was accused of being the brains behind the child kidnapping and abuse operation around Dutroux. Nihoul's lawyer in the case, Frederic Clement de Clety, denied all charges made against Nihoul by Dutroux and called him a "liar and manipulator." When

7224-421: Was the brains behind the child kidnapping operation, and would testify in the trial that there had been high-level murder plots to stop his investigation. 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, though no evidence of this was ever uncovered. Dutroux and his fellow accused supported

7310-426: Was the organizer of their abductions. While admitting some abductions, he denied being a murderer, although he had earlier confessed to killing Weinstein. 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 kidnapping, raping and murdering Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo. He, however, admitted to incarcerating them at one of his houses. In

7396-520: Was walking home from her local swimming pool in Bertrix . An eyewitness observed Dutroux's van, described it and was able to identify part of the license plate . On 13 August 1996, Dutroux, Martin and Lelièvre were arrested. An initial search of Dutroux's houses proved inconclusive, but two days later, Dutroux and Lelièvre both made confessions. That same day, Dutroux led the police to the basement dungeon inside which Dardenne and Delhez were imprisoned;

#782217