Belgium denies early release to paedophile Dutroux

A Belgian court ruled Monday that there would be no early release for the country’s most notorious convicted paedophile. Marc Dutroux was convicted in 2004 of kidnapping and raping six girls and killing four of them in the 1990s.

Belgium’s top court ruled on Monday that there would be no early release for Marc Dutroux, the country’s most notorious convicted paedophile, 16 years after he was detained and eight years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2012, his wife and accomplice, serving a 30-year sentence, was granted parole and allowed to move into a monastery. 

Dutroux requested on February 4 to be allowed to live under house arrest with an electronic bracelet so that he could work as a plumber or a mechanic. He was previously employed as an electronic.

His case remains a sensitive issue in Belgium, especially as both he and his wife had already been jailed in 1989 for previous kidnapping charges, but were both released just two and three years later respectively.

In 1995, police visited the couple’s home when two of their victims, both eight years old, were in the house, but failed to find them. The two girls later died of starvation.

Dutroux also killed two other girls, aged 17 and 19, who had been raped and drugged, by burying them alive. Two others, 12 and 14 years old, were discovered in a makeshift dungeon when he was arrested in 1996.

Killer’s mother against release

In a newspaper interview printed on Monday, Dutroux’s mother said that she hoped her son would remain behind bars.

"I am certain he will start again," 78-year-old Jeannine Dutroux told Le Soir in her first public comments since her son was jailed in 2004.

"Marc isn't ready to be released because he still wants to attribute to others the responsibility for what he did,” she told the newspaper’s weekly magazine.

According to a police report seen by the same newspaper group, the authorities are likely to come to the same conclusion. In a printed summary of the report, which the Sudpresse group said would be reviewed by judges assessing the case, Dutroux’s release was discouraged for a number of reasons.

The psychoanalysts who compiled the report were particularly concerned by recent comments made by Dutroux concerning his victims, when he argued that he “treated the girls with humanity,” the article said.

The report also pointed out that it would be impossible for Dutroux to find work or accommodation, and that he may also re-offend.

Under Belgian law a prisoner can be released after serving a third of their sentence, or after 15 years in the case of those who have received a life term.

Source: France 24 (18/02/2013): http://www.france24.com/en/20130218-belgium-court-paedophile-rape-murder-dutroux