1 year prison for former police commissioner 01/02/2008 00:00

Antwerp Court of Appeals has sentenced former police Commissioner Bart Debie to 4 years in prison, of which 1 year effective

The Antwerp Court of Appeals has sentenced former police Commissioner Bart Debie to 4 years in prison, of which 1 year effective. Debie has also been stripped of his civil rights for five years.

The head of the Court of Appeals took a grim view of the facts presented to him. He convicted Bart Debie for drawing up false police reports, assault of suspects and inciting racism.

Apart from the prison sentence, the former police commissioner has to pay a fine of 1,250.

Mr Debie was found guilty in first instance. He was given a 3 year conditional prison sentence without the loss of civil rights. He appealed the decision.

Will he lose his political mandate?

In April 2004 Bart Debie became the security advisor for the extreme right wing Vlaams Belang party. He was elected to the town council and is Vlaams Belang party secretary in the Flemish Parliament.

Because he has been stripped of civil rights, it is expected that he will resign from his political mandates.

The former police commissioner has announced that he would take his case to the Court of Cassation.