French ‘judiciary leak’ accelerated police raids

1 December 2005

BRUSSELS — The French media report over the Belgian suicide bomber prompted the accelerated Belgian anti-terror raids on Tuesday night, the nation’s Justice Minister, Laurette Onkelinx, told MPs on Thursday.

The French Justice Minister, Pascal Clément, will now investigate whether a member of the French judiciary leaked the news of the Belgian woman’s bomb attack in Iraq to the media.

Belgian police raided several homes on Tuesday night, arresting 14 people, five of whom are still in police custody. Other news reports have indicated six suspects are still being detained.
 
During Parliament question time on Thursday, Onkelinx said the raids took place quicker than expected, Belgian newspaper ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ reported.

This was due to the leak to French media via RTL France over the Belgian woman who blew herself up with explosives in Iraq on 9 November.

“Fortunately, this had no [negative] consequences, but that was possible,” the Socialist PS minister said.

Onkelinx discussed the matter with her French colleague Clément on Thursday morning. There are rumours the leak originated with the French judiciary and Clément has promised to investigate the claims.

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Subject: Belgian news