CNN.com - Belgian child sex trial opens - January 31, 2002
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Belgian child sex trial opens
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Nineteen suspects from in and around a remote village have gone on trial for allegedly sexually abusing children in Belgium's biggest paedophilia scandal since the 1996 arrest of Marc Dutroux.
The handcuffed chief suspect, a former bar owner accused of having sex with his 12-year-old daughter and pushing her into prostitution, kicked out at photographers as police led him through the media throng.
A half dozen other minors are also said to have been abused by the men.
The scandal surfaced last year when the ex-bar owner's daughter, now 15, claimed she had been forced to have sex with her father and other men visiting their home. The father told the court he had sex with her when he was drunk or drugged.
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The trial opened on Thursday amid massive media interest. Child sex cases have increasingly hit the headlines since the 1996 Dutroux scandal, which centred on the kidnap, rape and murder of girls as young as eight.
The 15-year-old girl's stepmother was widely suspected of being a prostitute, explaining the many comings and goings at the house, located in the shadow of the village church, the court heard.
"There was this atmosphere of poverty, a lack of feelings and values. Everything was morose," said Dimitri Fourny, a lawyer for one of the defendants.
The list of suspects has grown, implicating more and more men from in and around the village of Sainte-Ode, population 2,200, which is hidden deep in the Ardennes forests of southern Belgium.
Among them are an electrician, a lumberjack, a car repair man, a train driver and an antique salesman.
Hiding his face when he entered the court on Thursday was the local doctor, one of the most respected villagers. Some, including the doctor, have denied the allegations. Most suspects are charged with raping a minor.
The prosecutor's office claims it has solid evidence, including compromising photos, confessions, victims' statements and reports from sex abuse experts.
Dutroux, 45, is still awaiting trial accused of raping and killing young girls.
He has been charged in the death of four girls between eight and 19 and faces additional charges of kidnapping and child abuse.
These crimes allegedly were committed while he was free on parole for the abduction and rape of five girls in the mid-1980s.
His case has led to an overhaul of Belgian law enforcement agencies after revelations of inept police work in the search for the missing children. Authorities say Dutroux's trial may not start until early next year.
Last week an unauthorised televised interview with Dutroux was criticised by the father of a teenage girl his is believed to have killed.
Dutroux admitted in the interview, broadcast on Monday, that he was guilty of locking up two young girls who starved to death in his cellar.
But he stopped short of accepting responsibility for their murders according to comments captured on an audio recording made by a television journalist smuggled into his cell by a Belgian senator.
Dutroux has been awaiting trial since 1996 when he was arrested and charged with abducting, torturing, raping and murdering four girls, including two eight-year-olds -- Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo -- who starved to death in makeshift cells under one of his houses.
"I kept Julie and Melissa captive at my place, so I'm not innocent. I kept An and Eefje (teenagers An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks) captive at my place, so I'm not innocent. I'm absolutely guilty," Dutroux said.