Belgium's Highest Court Clears Early Release of Michelle Martin, Ex-Wife and Accomplice of Marc Dutroux
Martin, 52, had served barely half of her 30-year sentence. She was to leave prison for a convent as victims' fathers condemned the decision.
Published
Michelle Martin, the ex-wife and accomplice of Belgian child killer Marc Dutroux, had served barely half of her 30-year sentence. On August 28, 2012, Belgium's highest court cleared her early release.
The Court of Cassation found that a lower court had made no procedural errors when it granted Martin, 52, conditional release on July 31, and it threw out appeals against that decision. Its ruling held that victims, though entitled to be informed and heard, are not parties to proceedings on carrying out a sentence and cannot appeal a conditional-release decision. Under Belgian law, prisoners can be freed after serving a third of their sentences if they meet certain conditions. Martin was to leave her prison in southern Brussels that evening to live at a Poor Clares convent in Malonne, and she was ordered to keep her distance from victims' relatives.
Martin, a former schoolteacher who married Dutroux in 1983, was sentenced in 2004 for helping him hold victims prisoner and for complicity in the deaths of two girls who starved in a locked cellar while Dutroux was jailed for car theft. Dutroux was jailed for life the same year. "For me, Michelle Martin is as much responsible for the death of my daughter as Dutroux," said Jean-Denis Lejeune, whose eight-year-old daughter, Julie, was one of the two girls. Paul Marchal, whose daughter An was also among Dutroux's victims, said, "There is only one word for this. This is simply absurd."
Al Jazeera reported that the court rejected appeals filed by prosecutors and some victims' families, while the ruling itself held that victims had no standing to bring such an appeal.
Sources
- Cour de cassation, arrêt du 28 août 2012, P.12.1454.F, Court of Cassation of Belgium (via Juportal)
- Belgian murder accomplice gets early release, Al Jazeera (news agencies)
- Ex-wife of child killer given early release, The World (PRX)