A Belgian court handed a child pornographer the maximum jail term of at least 10 years for making films of his daughters for a worldwide network, a report said.
The court in Bruges, western Belgium, condemned the 37-year-old named only as Pascal T. and laid down the 10-year sentence with the possibility of another 10 years behind bars if the government sees fit, the Belga news agency reported.
The convict's wife was sentenced to a suspended two-year sentence for "negligence".
The case, codenamed "Koala" dates back to 2004. It came to light in 2006 with the discovery in Australia of a video of a young Dutch-speaking girl.
That detail led to the arrest of Pascal T., the father of the girl in the film, who lived in Dutch-speaking Bruges.The child porn network was fed mainly from films made in Ukraine, but other material was produced in the Netherlands as well as Belgium.
According to judicial sources customers could order tailor-made videos and girls as young as nine have been identified on the films, according to Eurojust.
Pascal T., had set up a studio at his home where he filmed his two young daughters, aged nine and 11 a the time, being abused.
Several suspects were picked up in Belgium, including Victor Hissel, a former lawyer for families of victims of child killer Marc Dutroux, who was charged on Monday with possessing child pornography.His crime carries a possible one-year prison term.
Source: MSN.
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Belgium is a center of child trafficking
Monday, 19 August 1996
'Nation's shock over chamber of horrors'
Belgium reacted with anger yesterday as details emerged of the death by starvation of two kidnapped eight-year-old girls and the ordeal of two others rescued from the country's House of Horrors.
"It is truly horrible ... unimaginable," one spectator told Belgian radio as police continued their excavations at two houses linked to Marc Dutroux, the electrician of Sars-la-Buissiere who will appear in court today.
The families of Laetitia Delheze and Sabine Dardenne, the two girls who were rescued from a concrete dungeon beneath Dutroux's terraced house on Thursday night, gave thanks for their escape. But those of the dead girls, Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, bitterly condemned the failure of the authorities to act on the case of the missing children sooner.
Dutroux had been convicted in 1989 of raping underage girls and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. But he was released after three years for good behaviour.
"Julie and Melissa are victims of organised paedophilia, sacrificed by the scepticism which has reigned in Belgium towards groups of evil-doers who are capable of kidnapping children ... and sexually abusing them," the families said through their lawyer, Victor Hissel.
"It was paedophilia which killed our daughters but, equally, it was the incredible generosity shown to paedophiles by those who are responsible for protecting our children."
Michel Bourlet, the prosecutor in the case, said Marc Dutroux claimed to have given money to associates to feed the girls during his detention in police custody on another matter.
Even up until the discovery of their remains on Saturday, hope had been held out for them. "We still had a spark of hope to find them alive," Anne Thily, the examining magistrate, said.
Finding the two girls' bodies brought to seven the number found dead in a string of mysterious disappearances dating back to 1989. Six other children were still missing after Laetitia Delheze, 14, and Sabine Dardenne, 12, were rescued from their four-metre by three-metre prison last week. Laetitia was kidnapped 10 days ago and Sabine had disappeared on 28 May.
While still nervous at admitting the possibility of a nationwide paedophile ring, Mr Bourlet said that police had now pooled the files on all 15 children. Dutroux had admitted further kidnappings.
Meanwhile, Laetitia and Sabine finally rejoined their families after medical examinations. Laetitia looked pale and drawn but greeted neighbours and the media from an open window, saying that she was fine. "I feel good and I can smile again," she said.
But her mother, Patricia, described her daughter's ordeal on Belgian television, saying that she had been tied by the neck and feet with chains and raped three times.
"They had to take a bath with that man and all that ... They raped her," she said. "The kidnappers mainly talked to Laetitia. Sabine, after two-and-a-half months, thought her parents were no longer looking for her. My daughter tried to cheer her up."
Police had searched the house on Tuesday when they arrested Dutroux but failed to discover the girls in the dungeon, which was sound-proofed.
Louise Jury
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/nations-shock-over-chamber-of-horrors-1310431.html
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Friday, 13 March, 1998
Lawyer for dead girls' parents in Belgian paedophilia case resigns
The lawyer for the families of two of the girls found dead in the paedophile case involving convicted child rapist Marc Dutroux has resigned from the case, Belgian RTBF radio reported on Friday.
The lawyer, Victor Hissel, refused to explain his decision, saying he had taken it so as "not to make the situation worse.
His clients, the parents of Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo took the news badly and said he had been the victim of pressure and intimidation.
The father of Julie Lejeune said on the radio: "Maitre Hissel has been the object of varied pressures and acts of intimidation, and now, well, he has been reduced to silence, he can no longer defend Julie and Melissa.". Carine Russo, Melissa's mother, said, also in broadcast remarks: "I don't know if this will jeopardize the prosecution of the case, it is not the lawyers who carry out the investigations, but it has in effect endangered our little girls'defence, that's for sure, because as far as I - as far as the four of us are concerned, Victor Hissel is irreplaceable."
The radio quoted "certain voices" at the Liege courts of justice of speaking of "a publicity coup" and said they were "wagering that Victor Hissel will resume his brief in a week's time".
It also said Hissel's resignation "must have brought comfort to another lawyer, Michel Graindorge, who propounds the thesis that anyone challenging the Belgian establishment will meet with strong resistance."
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/65439.stm
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July 1998
In July 1998, a vigilante anti-pedophile group (Werkgroep Morkhoven) exposed an international child pornography ring. The ring was found to be operating in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Israel and Russia. Around 9,000 images were found in the Zandvoort apartment of a formerly convicted pedophile, Gerrie Ulrich, who was murdered in Italy, possibly by his business partner and partner in the child pornography ring. The cruelty to the children in the pornography stunned many officials familiar with the sexual exploitation of children. Some of the pornography was made with babies that appeared to be no more than 12 to 15 months old. A child psychiatrist said that the children must have been sedated because they showed no reaction to the torture to which they were subjected. One film, titled "Oh Daddy," shows balding middle-aged men raping 5 and 8-year old girls. One girl appeared so lifeless she may have been dead. (AFP, 16 July 1998)
Link: http://www.paralumun.com/issuesnetherland.htm
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20 November, 2007
The prosecution against Marcel Vervloesem aim at making believe that he has taken the Zandvoort file for his pleasure. The dossier is allied to "Operation Koala", the biggest anti-paedophile police operation of all times, with the seizure 2 million pictures of child pornography, according to Italy. It would be a "burst air bubble", according to Belgium, which requests to condemn Marcel Vervloesem for an act of good citizenship, for which the King of Belgium has congratulated him ten years ago. The Belgian authorities could thus destroy the evidence concerning the authors of crime on 90.081 children victims, according to Interpol, on the basis of the law limiting the conservation of personal data to the duration of the investigation.
Link: http://www.droitfondamental.eu/07-Zandvoort-a-la-cour-d-appel-d-Anvers-GB.html
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