Correspondent: Belgium's X-Files Tx Date: 5th May 2002 This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 00.00.00 Music 00.00.02 Olenka Frenkiel In 1996 this woman came forward to tell the Belgian authorities she'd spent her childhood years as the victim of a paedophile network. 00.00.11 Olenka Frenkiel She described a world of organised sexual abuse, torture and even murder. 00.00.18 Regina Louf It was terrible, you didn't believe your eyes and I didn't believe that humans could do that. 00.00.27 Music 00.00.28 Olenka Frenkiel She talked of violent child sex orgies with politicians, judges and influential businessmen; a Belgian underworld in which the establishment has refused to believe. 00.00.41 Claude Eerdekens Voice over Regina Louf is a pathological liar; she's a woman who's invented a series of scenarios, which just don't stand up. 00.00.47 Music 00.00.49 Olenka Frenkiel A campaign followed to discredit her evidence. But now, in an exclusive interview, the policeman assigned to investigate her claims has broken his silence. 00.00.58 Olenka Frenkiel He says the enquiry was blocked because it threatened to reveal too much. 00.01.03 Rudy Hoskens I'm convinced that she has been a victim – that's for sure. 00.01.06 Music 00.01.14 Correspondent Theme Music 00.01.20 Title Page BELGIUM'S X-FILES An Olenka Frenkiel Investigation 00.01.31 Music 00.01.36 Olenka Frenkiel In June 1996 this Belgian slum revealed a bitter secret that would come to haunt the nation. 00.01.41 Music 00.01.49 Olenka Frenkiel The eyes of the world watched in horror. Into the light emerged two young girls. 00.01.55 Olenka Frenkiel Laetitia, aged fourteen and Sabine just twelve were the latest in a long line of girls who'd gone missing. 00.02.04 Olenka Frenkiel Marc Dutroux, a convicted rapist and kidnapper, had led the police to where he'd imprisoned them. 00.02.12 Applause 00.02.15 Olenka Frenkiel Relief swept Belgium as their tearful homecoming was caught on camera. 00.02.20 Applause 00.02.33 Music 00.02.35 Olenka Frenkiel But it soon turned to horror when police revealed the secret cage hidden in the cellar of Dutroux's house. 00.02.42 Olenka Frenkiel The girls had been kept here, drugged and repeatedly raped. 00.02.45 Music 00.02.57 Olenka Frenkiel But what of Belgium's other missing children. Eight year olds Julie and Melissa who were missing for more than a year and twelve others who'd vanished mysteriously. 00.03.07 Olenka Frenkiel Was this a new lead in the hunt for them? 00.03.09 Music 00.03.14 Olenka Frenkiel The hopes of their parents were soon dashed. Within days Marc Dutroux led police to the site where the bodies of Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo were buried. 00.03.24 Olenka Frenkiel The parents were informed but when the Russos asked to see their daughter, Melissa, for the last time, they were refused. 00.03.34 Aston CARINE RUSSO Mother of Melissa Voice over We begged, we were crying to see her. Really we insisted with our lawyer, we really cried. They said no, it's not possible, that's the law. But we said what's the point of the law. And they said it's for your own psychological good. 00.03.55 Carine Russo Voice over It's not up to them to know what's good for our psychological well-being. What would have been good for us was to be certain. 00.04.04 Music 00.04.09 Olenka Frenkiel It's six years since the police unearthed the bodies of Julie and Melissa buried in the garden of this house. 00.04.15 Music 00.04.28 Olenka Frenkiel What's extraordinary to me is that though Dutroux's in jail, he's never been tried for these crimes. It's as though the judicial system froze when faced with having to bring him to trial. 00.04.39 Olenka Frenkiel Officially Dutroux lived on benefits yet this house, now derelict, was one of five that he owned. 00.04.45 Olenka Frenkiel The bodies of two more missing girls were found at another - Efje Ambrecks and An Marchal. 00.04.54 Aston PAUL MARCHAL Father of An I didn't believe that it was possible that children were kept in, in a cellar and were raped and, and kept there, until that Dutroux was, taken to prison and that he, that he could see the cellar. At the moment I had to believe. 00.05.19 Olenka Frenkiel Before the murders Marc Dutroux had already been convicted of five charges of rape and kidnapping. Yet somehow he'd served only six years in jail before he was released back into the Charleroi underworld. 00.05.32 Olenka Frenkiel This was once Belgium's industrial heartland but today its most famous industry is crime. 00.05.39 Olenka Frenkiel Dutroux melted back into this realm of prostitution, drug traffic and stolen cars and began to plan his next project – the kidnap of children. 00.05.49 Applause 00.05.53 Olenka Frenkiel For the parents now burying their murdered daughters after more than a year of fruitless searching, this was not the end of their nightmare. They would soon find out that Dutroux had been a prime suspect from the start, yet nothing had been done to save their girls. 00.06.11 Olenka Frenkiel Melissa's father is still asking why his daughter was allowed to die. 00.06.19 Aston GINO RUSSO Father of Melissa Voice over Ten days after the kidnapping of Julie and Melissa in '95, three witnesses said it was Dutroux who was kidnapping children. But they don't go looking for Julie and Melissa at his house straight after the kidnapping. It's inexplicable. And he continues to kidnap other children. They put a special surveillance unit to watch Dutroux and he continues to kidnap children. It's inexplicable; the whole thing is inexplicable from start to finish. 00.06.50 Olenka Frenkiel What is known is that Dutroux was finally caught when his white van was identified. It had been used to snatch a sixth girl, miles away from his home patch. 00.07.02 Olenka Frenkiel The man who arrested Dutroux was Jean Marc Conerotte, an investigating magistrate. He became a national hero, uniquely respected by the parents of the murdered children. 00.07.14 Paul Marchal He is someone who want to know the truth. You can feel it when you talk to him, you can feel that he want to investigate, the he want to have the truth. He is a very good magistrate. 00.07.31 Olenka Frenkiel Conerotte arrested Dutroux's associates. Among the first was Jean Michel Nihoul. 00.07.37 Olenka Frenkiel Nihoul and Dutroux had been seen at the site of the latest abduction the night before. They'd been in constant phone contact the day it happened. And the next day Nihoul gave ten thousand pounds worth of drugs to an accomplice of Dutroux. 00.07.51 Olenka Frenkiel One witness claimed, Nihoul had ordered a girl. 00.07.57 Olenka Frenkiel Conerotte knew Nihoul had influential friends, he suspected he was the brains behind a network supplying clients with children to abuse. It's a charge Nihoul denies. 00.08.09 Olenka Frenkiel Conerotte appealed to the public for information. 00.08.13 Regina Louf When I saw him walking down the stairs, I thought that I knew everything about him. It was a shock; I thought finally they stopped him. 00.08.24 Olenka Frenkiel Regina Louf was one of the first to come forward. She said that as a child she'd been abused for many years in a paedophile network involving Nihoul and Dutroux. 00.08.35 Regina Louf I remember Jean Michel Nihoul as a very cruel man; he abused children in a very sadistic way. 00.08.42 Olenka Frenkiel She says that at the age of twelve she was taken with other children to sex parties. And, she told investigators, Dutroux was there, working for Nihoul. 00.08.52 Aston REGINA LOUF Dutroux was a boy who brought drugs, cocaine and something like that, to these parties, who brought some girls, watched girls at these parties. Nihoul, he, he was a sort of party beast. Dutroux was more on the side. 00.09.19 Olenka Frenkiel Nihoul denies he's ever met Regina Louf. But her story's never changed. Nihoul, she said, was one of those who organised the parties and invited the cream of Belgian society – judges, politicians and influential businessmen in order to compromise them. 00.09.41 Regina Louf It was big business, yeah and it was very well organised too. There was a lot of money going on there and a lot of blackmail also. They had a lot of parties; they filmed it even. So, yes, yes, it exists. I know it sounds crazy and I know that there is a big taboo on everything like that but it exists. 00.10.13 Music 00.10.14 Olenka Frenkiel Regina Louf's story was horrific. But her account of a violent paedophile underworld was by now reinforced by new witnesses, some of whom also named influential people. 00.10.25 Music 00.10.30 Olenka Frenkiel The investigation began. The witnesses' identities were protected. Each was given a codename beginning with X. Regina was X-1. They went up to X-9. Their testimonies became known as Belgium's X-Files. 00.10.45 Music 00.10.50 Olenka Frenkiel The task of trying to verify them fell to a young police investigator. 00.10.55 Aston RUDY HOSKENS Team Leader, Police investigation They were telling stories we hadn't heard before in our lives. Things we couldn't believe at first. So we told ourselves, is this true? Could this be true? And when it is true it's very, it's very, it's frightening that things like that could happen. 00.11.11 Rudy Hoskens We had a special room for the interviews. It was specially kept for people who had been victimised by such matters. There was a camera in the room. They were done mostly in the evening or the early hours. When the interviews were finished, they were written down by a few people of my team, all the way from the first word to the last, literally. 00.11.37 Music 00.11.39 Olenka Frenkiel But before the investigation could get under way there was a bombshell. 00.11.43 Music 00.11.45 Olenka Frenkiel Jean Marc Conerotte, the man who'd arrested Dutroux, who'd saved the imprisoned girls, was sacked from the case. 00.11.51 Music 00.11.56 Olenka Frenkiel His removal caused a public outcry. Belgians lost faith in their judicial system. They descended on the Palace of Justice and accused the courts of colluding with the killers. 00.12.06 Crowds shouting 00.12.12 Olenka Frenkiel The father of one of the murdered girls spoke for all. 00.12.16 Gino Russo Subtitles This decision is like spitting on the graves of Julie and Melissa. 00.12.24 Gino Russo Voice over As an investigating magistrate, Conerotte, who arrests ten people and they sack him and they appoint another investigation magistrate, Langlois, who's never done the job before. It's his first appointment in the most important investigation, in the biggest file of the century. You're going to put in an investigating magistrate who's never done the job before – can you understand that? 00.12.47 Olenka Frenkiel Three hundred thousand outraged Belgians marched through Brussels in a demonstration of grief and solidarity. This White March was the largest protest the country had ever seen. 00.12.58 Olenka Frenkiel Belgians felt that the dismissal of Conerotte was a betrayal of Dutroux's victims, that it signalled the end of any real search for a network. 00.13.07 Olenka Frenkiel The two rescued girls were overwhelmed. 00.13.10 Laetitia Subtitle Thank you for coming in such large numbers. 00.13.15 Sabine Subtitle Thank you all for coming. 00.13.24 Olenka Frenkiel The country's highest legal authorities had removed the only judge in which the public had any faith because he'd attended a fund raising dinner for the families of missing children. A conflict of interest they'd called it; a lack of judgement. The government feared a revolution. 00.13.42 Aston VINCENT DECROLY MP I think there were a kind of insurrection climate, a kind of pre-revolutionary climate here. You know, the big powers in Belgium so the magistrates and the political circus, the government, the parliament, everything was totally discredited, everything was totally discredited. 00.14.09 Music 00.14.16 Olenka Frenkiel No one knew what to believe anymore. Rumour and speculation spawned a variety of wild theories. 00.14.23 Actor You will instigate ultimate fear. 00.14.26 Olenka Frenkiel A feature film suggested the whole affair was part of an extreme right wing plot to destabilise the country. 00.14.33 Aston 'Blue Belgium' by Rob Van Eyck 00.14.33 Actor I'm very pleased Victor. Three hundred thousand idiots marching in Brussels and an ocean of white balloons – magnificent! Pathetic and impressive at the same time. We really got them exactly where we want them. 00.14.51 Music 00.15.02 Olenka Frenkiel To appease the public's concern, parliament set up the Dutroux Nihoul Commission. 00.15.10 Commissioner Subtitles I propose that the commission observe a moment's silence. 00.15.22 Aston VINCENT DECROLY MP Commission member As the pressure grew more and more they decided, in a kind of panic climate, to create the commission because the political world had to try to find an answer. 00.15.35 Olenka Frenkiel But what the commission revealed was incompetence that beggared belief. 00.15.39 Olenka Frenkiel Police had been told of Dutroux's plans to make money by kidnapping children. They had his house under surveillance throughout the abductions. 00.15.48 Olenka Frenkiel They even searched inside and heard the sound of children but failed to find the dungeon. 00.15.56 Olenka Frenkiel What it established beyond doubt was that the girls could have been saved. 00.16.02 Aston CLAUDE EERDEKENS MP Commission member They had everything they needed to arrest Dutroux. That's the scandal of this affair. Dutroux was known; he had previous form. They had valid intelligence that he'd built the hiding place in the cellar for the little girls. There was information from Charleroi that the children could be at the house. 00.16.20 Olenka Frenkiel But when the parliamentary commission began to ask why, was it incompetence or had someone in authority protected Dutroux, co-operation with their investigation stopped. 00.16.35 Aston GINO RUSSO Father of Melissa Voice over It was completely sabotaged to the point that all the work they did has been locked away in archives for thirty years. It was parliament that voted that on itself. Can you imagine? 00.16.52 Music 00.16.57 Olenka Frenkiel If the commission's job had been to restore stability, to clear the air of insurrection, it worked. 00.17.04 Olenka Frenkiel The danger to Belgium's establishment was over. But there was still no answer to the most important question – was the catalogue of failures pure incompetence or had Dutroux and his friends enjoyed protection? 00.17.18 Olenka Frenkiel Were they protected? 00.17.21 Aston CLAUDE EERDEKENS MP Commission member Voice over On the question of protection we didn't discover much, unless you count the best protection that Dutroux could have had and that's the incompetence of Belgium's police and judicial system. 00.17.32 Olenka Frenkiel But Jean Michel Nihoul, the man suspected of hiring Dutroux to kidnap children, was released from jail after just five months. It's still unclear if he'll ever come to trial and some members of the commission remain convinced he is protected. 00.17.48 Vincent Decroly We succeeded in demonstrating that Nihoul was really an artist in protection, really a specialised man in manipulating enquiries, policemen and judges. We had proof about that. 00.18.13 Olenka Frenkiel Nihoul's release just left more unanswered questions for the families. The mother of Melissa, Carine Russo, has access to the legal evidence the court will bring against Dutroux. 00.18.23 Olenka Frenkiel She's found no answers, nothing to clarify who stole, raped and killed her daughter. All charges Dutroux denies. 00.18.37 Carine Russo Voice over Five years on there's still no admission from Dutroux. There's no material evidence, no witness statements, which state that it was Dutroux who really kidnapped the children, who really raped them and who really killed them. 00.18.57 Gino Russo Voice over It's a catastrophe because nothing is anymore clear today. Nothing is clear. 00.19.02 Music 00.19.03 Olenka Frenkiel The parents suspect Dutroux was not acting alone. That others were involved in abducting and hiding the girls. 00.19.12 Olenka Frenkiel When he was briefly imprisoned for car theft in November 1995, Dutroux claims to have left the girls in his cellar, in this specially constructed cage with a little food and water. 00.19.23 Olenka Frenkiel On his release, after nearly four months, Dutroux claims he'd found the children barely alive, that he tried to save them but they died in his arms. 00.19.31 Music 00.19.34 Olenka Frenkiel But for the Russos, this story can't be true. 00.19.37 Music 00.19.43 Carine Russo Voice over Four months incarceration of two little girls of eight years old in a cellar in the middle of winter. But when I say cellar it's a little hide built inside the cellar, so it's tiny, three metres by two, even less. No windows, completely dark, they cut off the heating. 00.20.05 Gino Russo Voice over They cut the electricity and heat. 00.20.09 Carine Russo Voice over And no food – for four months. Then he says when he came out of prison four months later, they're still alive. Well then they're superhuman. It's unimaginable two children of eight holding out, alone, with nothing to sustain them – no food, no heat, no human, no psychological contact. Nothing. In a little cage like that for such a long time and survive. 00.20.39 Olenka Frenkiel So how did they survive so long? Did someone else keep them alive? 00.20.45 Olenka Frenkiel The Palace of Justice in Liege is the seat of one of Belgium's most powerful figures – Prosecutor General Anne Thily, who's in charge of the case. 00.20.54 Olenka Frenkiel She says there's no evidence to contradict Dutroux's version of how the children died. 00.21.01 Olenka Frenkiel So how did the children survive so long? Nearly four months, until Dutroux was released from prison. 00.21.12 Aston ANNE THILY Prosecutor General Voice over No, no, Julie was dead. Melissa was nearly dead and then she died. I think it was the next day. 00.21.23 Olenka Frenkiel But Melissa, how could she have survived nearly four months? 00.21.29 Anne Thily Voice over Survive in what condition? In a lamentable state, she was so weak she could not get up. That's according to Dutroux of course; no one else was there. 00.21.43 Olenka Frenkiel Dutroux was acting alone. This is the mantra repeated again and again in Belgium with a certitude that for the victims' parents is inexplicable. 00.21.54 Olenka Frenkiel They believe that investigators have blocked every lead, rejected every clue, which would reveal that Dutroux was kidnapping girls for someone else. 00.22.04 Olenka Frenkiel Most painful perhaps is the autopsy report, which shows Melissa had been repeatedly raped about two weeks before her death, while Dutroux was in jail. 00.22.13 Olenka Frenkiel So who raped this child? Dutroux denies he raped the girls. 00.22.20 Olenka Frenkiel But isn't it simple to find out if Dutroux raped them or someone else – scientifically? 00.22.29 Carine Russo Voice over Normally yes, in principal, yes. But in fact the most elementary scientific tests, like DNA tests, the traces of the culprit on the body of the child, were just not done. 00.22.49 Olenka Frenkiel Back in the Palace of Justice they say the DNA tests were done but the results were inconclusive. 00.22.58 Olenka Frenkiel Can you explain why there was no DNA analysis done? 00.23.03 Anne Thily Voice over DNA analysis was done Madame! 00.23.06 Olenka Frenkiel And the results? 00.23.07 Anne Thily Voice over Nothing. 00.23.09 Olenka Frenkiel What does that mean? That there was no trace of sperm? 00.23.13 Anne Thily Voice over They were in a very putrefied state. It did not allow us to make an analysis of that type, of sperm or anything. 00.23.23 Olenka Frenkiel That's not what's written in the autopsy report. Again the story doesn't square. 00.23.29 Olenka Frenkiel The bodies weren't severely decomposed. DNA can be identified from samples taken long after death. The question remains unanswered – why is there no DNA result, might it have shown that someone else had raped Melissa? 00.23.44 Olenka Frenkiel Other forensic tests that should have been routine were just not done. Human hairs collected from Dutroux's dungeon weren't sent for analysis. 00.23.53 Olenka Frenkiel The logic was strange. They claimed that as there was no evidence anyone else had entered the cage, there was no need to analyse the hair. 00.24.03 Olenka Frenkiel In five years Conerotte's successor has shed no light on the abduction, imprisonment or death of the girls. 00.24.12 Olenka Frenkiel Jacques Langlois refused to be interviewed. 00.24.16 Aston PAUL MARCHAL Father of An Langlois don't believe in a sort of network. For Langlois, Dutroux is the only one who used the girls. For Langlois it's, it's simple; there's one raper, Dutroux, a closed case. 00.24.41 Music 00.24.43 Olenka Frenkiel By the Spring of 1997, evidence of a paedophile network linked to the Dutroux affair was emerging from the testimony of the X witnesses. 00.24.51 Music 00.24.54 Olenka Frenkiel Regina Louf had provided investigators with details of her childhood abuse, which they'd begun to check. 00.25.01 Aston RUDY HOSKENS Team Leader, Police investigation In one of her testimonies she explained how a certain person had been murdered in a certain place. So, we went to look for that case, that old case, she described it, where it happened more or less. 00.25.17 Aston REGINA LOUF I remember it like it's a film in my head. I can close my eyes and see every little detail of that house she was murdered. 00.25.31 Music 00.25.35 Olenka Frenkiel Regina Louf described a house where in 1984 she said she saw the torture and murder of a young girl. The house was connected to an underground mushroom farm. 00.25.45 Olenka Frenkiel The building has since been demolished. But Rudy Hoskens' team identified it and matched Regina's story to an unsolved murder - that of fifteen year old Christine van Hees. 00.25.57 Rudy Hoskens She gave us some details that made us think it's impossible to give without having been there at that place, or without having, yeah, lived that in the way the body was found at that time and the way she described the person was, was killed. There were some things that were similar. 00.26.15 Regina Louf It was a sort of bondage, so her legs and her hands and her throat were connected with the same rope and when she moved she strangled herself, yeah. 00.26.26 Music 00.26.29 Olenka Frenkiel The credibility of Regina Louf's testimony hinged partly on whether she really knew the house where Christine Van Hees was killed. 00.26.40 Olenka Frenkiel This man grew up there, though his family sold it before the murder. 00.26.46 Olenka Frenkiel It was two houses knocked into one with a unique passage of stairs and corridors. No one, he says, could describe it unless they'd been there. 00.26.56 Man Voice over There was the corridor here between the two houses. And she drew a picture of the doors inside. They were antique doors and she drew the mouldings. She described the wallpaper and the front step. I don't know how she could have described it all so faithfully if she'd never entered the house. 00.27.16 Man Voice over I don't know Regina Louf; I've never even met her. All I know is from her description of the house, of the mushroom farm, my brother and I agreed, I'm sure, it's certain she entered the mushroom farm. It's certain. 00.27.35 Music 00.27.37 Olenka Frenkiel The police were now convinced they were on to something. That Regina Louf's testimony was credible. 00.27.42 Music 00.27.47 Olenka Frenkiel What's more it gave them a new link between Marc Dutroux and the man accused of being his boss, Jean Michel Nihoul. 00.27.54 Music 00.28.01 Olenka Frenkiel In the year before her death, Christine Van Hees was a regular visitor to the Brussels ice-rink where Marc Dutroux also went. 00.28.09 Olenka Frenkiel He'd already been banned from the rink in Charleroi where he was notorious for molesting girls. The manager remembers it well. 00.28.22 Ice rink manager Voice over And then I saw him with a young girl who was up against the lockers like this. And Dutroux, who was in front of her with his hands all over her like this. 00.28.38 Ice rink manager Voice over So I grabbed him and pulled him back and brought him over here. At that moment my father-in-law turned up and when he found out what was happening he wanted to hit him. So I grabbed his arm, otherwise he would have punched him. 00.28.58 Olenka Frenkiel When she wasn't skating Christine Van Hees used to spend time in the building of a pirate radio station. It belonged to Jean Michel Nihoul. 00.29.07 Olenka Frenkiel Both men, Dutroux and Nihoul, were at Christine Van Hees's murder, according to Regina Louf. 00.29.13 Olenka Frenkiel And Dutroux was involved in the murder? 00.29.17 Regina Louf He watched it and he didn't do something, anything and so he abused her that night, so, yes, he was involved. 00.29.26 Olenka Frenkiel How many people were there? 00.29.30 Regina Louf I still don't know for sure. But around eight. 00.29.36 Olenka Frenkiel Nihoul, Dutroux? 00.29.38 Regina Louf And a lot of others. So. But everybody except Dutroux is free. 00.29.50 Olenka Frenkiel Nihoul denied it. But her testimony was dynamite. If true, it meant Dutroux and Nihoul were linked with another murder. But then out of the blue the investigation was stopped. 00.30.03 Rudy Hoskens We received a message that we couldn't investigate anymore just like that. We were sent home. Just like that, without an explanation because our work hadn't been done all right. Very strange. 00.30.20 Olenka Frenkiel Why were you taken off this case? 00.30.23 Rudy Hoskens I wish I knew. Perhaps we were touching something we, we couldn't touch. Some people say this, we didn't have the proof at that moment to say things like that but perhaps we were coming closer to some things, yeah, perhaps. 00.30.42 Olenka Frenkiel Like what things? 00.30.43 Rudy Hoskens I don't know, something Belgium or the world shouldn't know about. 00.30.48 Olenka Frenkiel Patric De Baets, the head of Hoskens' team, had been one of Belgium's most respected police investigators. It was he who'd taken Regina's testimony. Now he too was sent home, accused of manipulating her evidence. 00.31.02 Olenka Frenkiel Patric De Baets, who questioned her, was accused of planting some of the information so that she would reproduce it. You watched that investigation. Was that true? 00.31.16 Rudy Hoskens No, no way. No way. We even had some magistrates, judges and superior gendarmerie officers watching how we interviewed and they watched it from the first to the last moment and if we did, hadn't done it right at that time, they should have said to us, don't work that way. But they didn't tell us anything. 00.31.38 Olenka Frenkiel For De Baets and his colleagues, charged with manipulating an enquiry, a Kafkaesque battle now began to clear their names. 00.31.47 Olenka Frenkiel They were suspended and Regina Louf got a call from a member of the new team assigned in their place. His motive was clear. 00.31.55 Regina Louf He said well, we have to search for mistakes you made now and you have to prove now that you were right. I said no, I don't have to prove that I'm right. You have to investigate if I'm right or not. I'm not a police officer, I can't do house search and I can't interrogate my abusers, you have to do that. I just can tell my story and, and make testimony, that's all I can do. He said wrong, you have to prove it. 00.32.38 Music 00.32.40 Olenka Frenkiel News about Regina's story began to leak out. 00.32.45 Olenka Frenkiel When the media took it up, it was to destroy her. 00.32.50 Voice over Subtitles X-1 and her fantasies – an investigation beyond the real. 00.32.57 Presenter Madame, Monsieur, bonsoir… 00.33.00 Olenka Frenkiel The flagship programme of the government funded French language channel was unequivocal. De Baets was guilty they declared and Regain Louf, a sinister and deranged liar. 00.33.15 Claude Eerdekens Voice over I think Regina Louf is a pathological liar. She's a woman who's invented scenarios that don't stand up to scrutiny. It's all been shown to be fiction. 00.33.26 Olenka Frenkiel Well no, not according to the investigators who were sacked. They don't agree with you, they say they weren't even allowed to investigate. 00.33.34 Claude Eerdekens Voice over No, that's not accurate. I continue to believe these men did not do their jobs properly and that they let the public think that what Regina Louf and the other anonymous witnesses said was partly true. That's all a tissue of lies, stories verging on the pornographic. They make no sense. 00.33.57 Olenka Frenkiel Weren't you manipulated? I mean people have said she was completely mad; she invented the whole thing. 00.34.02 Rudy Hoskens Well some people fear, some people say this but they weren't there. We lived all the testimonies, we've seen them, we did the investigations. So, for ourselves, we know what should have been right or what could have been wrong. But when you don't, when you haven't lived it, when you haven't seen everything, you can't give an opinion on this, it's impossible. But we found some things that should have been investigated more. 00.34.34 Regina Louf I am married for thirteen years, I have four children, I live a normal life. I have a business of my own so I am not crazy. We are labelled as crazy, we have a stigma, we are stigmatised as crazy persons because we had the courage to talk about things that happened in our past. With person who played a role in the Belgian economy or politics or something like that. It was easier to make us crazy than to believe us. 00.35.19 Olenka Frenkiel Despite its earlier investigating zeal, Belgium's parliament now stood by as Regina Louf's testimony was declared worthless. The judiciary announced it would not be used in any trial. 00.35.31 Olenka Frenkiel And that might have been the end of it had the files of the entire Dutroux investigation not been leaked. 00.35.38 Olenka Frenkiel Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck and two other investigative journalists had access to every witness statement, every police report in the Dutroux affair. 00.35.48 Olenka Frenkiel Their book on Belgium's X-Files shook the country. 00.35.53 Olenka Frenkiel How did you get the information for the book? 00.35.56 Aston MARIE-JEANNE VAN HEESWYCK Journalist We had the opportunity to see the whole police file on the, the affair and the problem is that we wanted to be sure that there was no manipulation between, behind that because it's, it's always possible. So, we decided to meet a lot of people who were named in the files, who were witnesses in the file. And we met those people, without saying that, what we knew already. And we listened to their story. 00.36.34 Olenka Frenkiel They found the new team had rewritten Regina Louf's original statements. Testimony had been changed. 00.36.43 Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck We began to check it. And we began to read again all the questioning of Regina Louf to see how they did that, rewrite it. And one by one we discovered that the gendarmes, police of De Baets, had pretended that De Baets manipulate, had manipulated the investigation. So everybody was tricked. 00.37.14 Olenka Frenkiel To this day no evidence has ever been produced to support the allegations against De Baets. Yet he continues to be accused. 00.37.23 Olenka Frenkiel I met him and his colleague in a Brussels cafι. 00.37.28 Olenka Frenkiel Their careers are in ruins and the investigation into Regina's story is dead. And yet two separate inquires, cleared them of every charge that they manipulated her testimony. 00.37.40 Patric De Baets I show you the final report of the internal inquiry of the gendarmerie. It was made twenty-sixth June 2000. 00.37.50 Olenka Frenkiel So what does this mean? 00.37.51 Patric De Baets That I'm not a bad policeman. 00.37.54 Olenka Frenkiel But now that's cleared you, you face new, new charges, new allegations, new accusations against you. 00.38.01 Patric De Baets I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid of that because I know the conclusions will be the same. 00.38.13 Olenka Frenkiel But why this constant barrage of accusations? 00.38.18 Patric De Baets I don't know. I can imagination things but I can't explain them. 00.38.29 Olenka Frenkiel For six years the parents of the murdered girls have grappled with the inexplicable. Why were their daughters left to die? Why has Dutroux never come to trial and why has every lead that might have revealed a network behind Dutroux been blocked or ignored? 00.38.44 Olenka Frenkiel But Belgium's lost interest in their struggle. Today anyone who talks of a network, even the parents, is dismissed as deranged. 00.38.55 Paul Marchal I talked in press about children who were raped and so on and they started again with saying that I'm a little bit foolish and that I'm fantasising. I'm sure that in several years everyone will believe that networks will exist then they have to accept. 00.39.20 Olenka Frenkiel Since Marc Dutroux's arrest anyone who's questioned the official line has been attacked. Every lead that might have widened the net has hit the buffers. 00.39.29 Olenka Frenkiel Dutroux meanwhile has sat in jail. But outside, in the shadowy circles in which he moved, potential witnesses in the Dutroux affair have died in strange ways. 00.39.39 Music 00.39.42 Olenka Frenkiel A police informer with links to the Charleroi underworld, Jose Steppe, told a journalist he had explosive information on Dutroux. Two days before they were due to meet he died. His family believes he was poisoned. 00.39.55 Music 00.40.00 Olenka Frenkiel Jean Paul Tamino was up to his neck in the Charleroi underworld of stolen cars and prostitution. He was summoned to see the Charleroi police and disappeared. The day of Dutroux's arrest his foot was fished out of the canal. 00.40.13 Regina Louf It's quite a coincidence that they die just before they want to testify, you know, that's strange. 00.40.23 Music 00.40.26 Olenka Frenkiel Social worker, Gina Pardaens worked with abused children. She'd identified the paedophile members of a pornography ring who'd threatened her. When she reported the threat to the police she was killed in an unexplained car crash. 00.40.38 Music 00.40.41 Olenka Frenkiel Francois Reyskens told a friend he'd seen one of the missing girls, Melissa, alive in Holland. Before he could tell the police his body was found crushed on the railway line. 00.40.51 Train 00.41.00 Olenka Frenkiel Some twenty people, all potential witnesses in the Dutroux affair, have died in mysterious circumstances. 00.41.08 Regina Louf I survived it all, I don't know why. I survived my abusers, I survived my testimony just because I said it all. Why kill me now, you know, I'm mad. 00.41.32 Olenka Frenkiel An uneasy peace has returned to Belgium. The streets are calm; the danger of insurrection has passed. 00.41.40 Olenka Frenkiel The paedophile networks persist. Sometimes there are even arrests. Earlier this year nineteen men from one village were charged with child rape. 00.41.48 Music 00.41.56 Olenka Frenkiel But the Dutroux affair has paralysed Belgium's judiciary. 00.41.59 Music 00.42.02 Olenka Frenkiel After six years in jail, there is still no date for his trial. When it comes, it will satisfy no one. 00.42.09 Paul Marchal The trial of Dutroux, it will be a theatre, circus and I don't want to be part of a circus. The truth is that there is a network and that they have to search for that network so that you can save other children in the future. 00.42.31 Music 00.42.34 Carine Russo Voice over In this country we will never get to the truth. There is just too much truth that needs to be exposed. I am certain that the people want to understand; they are capable of understanding a lot more than the politicians and judiciary want to tell them. They treat the public like children. 00.42.54 Regina Louf I did what I could do. I testified, I spoke up to the police, to the judges, I spoke up to the press, you know, I yelled it out. What can I do anymore now, I can't. 00.43.10 Music 00.43.24 Olenka Frenkiel Children continue to go missing in Belgium. Dutroux's arrest has made no difference. Last year it was more than two thousand. 00.43.33 Olenka Frenkiel Fifty-two of those cases remain unsolved. 00.43.36 Music 00.43.41 Voice over Olenka Frenkiel is live on-line now. Express your opinions and e-mail her your questions at: www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent 00.43.41 Reporter OLENKA FRENKIEL Camera JAMES MILLER PETER GEORGE Dubbing Mixer PHITZ HEARNE VT Editor JASPAL BANGA Graphic Design NICOLA OWEN Production Team ALEXANDRA CAMERON EMMA CASHMORE SARAH EVA ANJANA SHARMA Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager IRENE OZGA Film Research NICK DODD Research ALEXANDRA KALKOFEN ALEX MAXWELL With thanks to MARIE-JEANNE VAN HEESWYCK Picture Editor ROBERT MOORE Directed & Produced by MICHAEL SIMKIN Editor FIONA MURCH 00.43.54 Voice over Next week – the murkiest depths of French corruption. A dead body floating off the coast of Taiwan leads to a trail of sex, intrigue and missing millions. 00.44.07 Series Producer SIMON FINCH BBC © BBC MMII 00.44.12 End BBC Correspondent 1 1